South African skipper John Smit says Tri Nations victory not mandatory to win Rugby World Cup
South African captain, John Smit, has said that this year’s Tri Nations series will not a pre-requisite to win the forthcoming Rugby World Cup. He said that it will be hard for any team to grab two consecutive milestones with a gap of just two months. South
Africa, New Zealand and Australia would participate in the upcoming event, kicking off a few weeks before RWC.
The Tri Nations series will start on 23rd July, in Sydney, between Australia and South Africa and the final will be played on 20th August. New Zealand will defend its Tri Nations titl. The Kiwis won last year after defeating Australia
in the final of the nail biting competition. All Blacks outclassed the Aussies in the previous Tri Nations by a narrow margin of 23-22.
Talking to media, South African John Smit admitted that Tri Nations has a great significance for the preparations of World Cup but it requires strong physical fitness. AS of now, top players from all three sides are busy in the current Super Rugby championship,
which will conclude in early July.
Super Rugby kicked off on 18th February and this year’s extended matches will further test the physical fitness of the campaigners. The skipper argued and said that, “The Tri Nations will all depend on how the teams come out of Super Rugby. It's
been a different level of physicality and intensity this year, plus the spice added by the local derbies. So it all depends on how your best 30 players come out of that competition”.
He further said that, “One perspective is that no team has won the Tri Nations and then the World Cup in the same year. The peaking scenario is mostly mental, but you have to make sure your body can follow through on that. The team that wins the World Cup
will be the one that understands the pressure and uses that to their advantage”.
Smit also added that his side would concentrate more on the RWC than the Tri Nations. South Africa will be defending its title later this year on September 9th.
Tags: