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'Hardest punch I ever took': John Smit's bust-up with Bok team-mate

John Smit of South Africa looks on with blood from a cut during the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final between England and South Africa at the Stade de France on October 20, 2007 in Saint-Denis, France. (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

Having earned 111 caps in South Africa’s front-row across an 11-year international career, former captain John Smit would have been at the heart of his fair share of skirmishes in training and in matches.

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It is therefore somewhat surprising that the hardest punch the World Cup-winning captain ever took was from “the most peaceful oke in the world,” Jean de Villiers.

Despite being the best part of 20kgs heavier than the former South Africa centre, Smit was once sent flying by what he reckons was the only punch de Villiers has ever thrown in his life.

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Joining RugbyPass TV’s upcoming episode of Boks Office from London, in collaboration with Ben Youngs’ For the Love of Rugby, Smit gave a detailed account of this punch that has gone down in South African rugby folklore.

“It kept under wraps for a while,” Smit said. “We were invited to this beautiful wine farm for a celebration after the World Cup in 2007 and the Chenin Blanc was flowing the whole day. It came to a time where we had to get on the bus and head back to the hotel because it was the last day of the bus tour and we were going to end up heading into Parliament in Cape Town.

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“I’d taken a roady, a bottle of wine for the bus trip which was about 45 minutes back to the hotel. I was sitting second to last row on the bus and diagonally opposite in the third row to the right, Jean was sitting with his girlfriend, wife now, his girlfriend then, and there was some admin going on there. There was a little bit of argy bargy.

“I thought to cool things down, I would take a sip of my Chenin Blanc and spray it through my two front teeth onto them just to calm things down. So the first time, Jean said ‘don’t do that’ and he gets back into this argument with the missus. So obviously I do it again. The second time the rage in the eyes comes out- ‘Barney, don’t do that’. The third time, as I sprayed over, he jumped up- and I think it was a great distraction from the fight he was having because he could actually physically sort this fight out.

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“As he stood up, I stood up and I was laughing and he absolutely banged me right here [on his jaw]. Hit me over the seat into the back of the bus. I sat there laughing and everyone was drunk enough to laugh at the same thing, but I didn’t remember a thing.

“I woke up the next morning and I couldn’t talk very well and I was thinking I must have fallen or something. We’re getting on the bus and there’s one person missing, JdV, there’s no JdV. I’m like ‘where is he?’ And everyone was like ‘does this oke not remember?’ Eventually, Victor comes up and says ‘hey dude, the oke’s not here because he smashed you last night’. So I phoned him and he was like ‘I’m so sorry Barney,’ I said ‘relax, just get to Parliament.’

“People always ask what’s the hardest punch you ever took in rugby, it was actually from Jean de Villiers, who’s the most peaceful oke in the world. I’m probably the only guy he’s ever punched.”

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Watch the highly acclaimed five-part documentary Chasing the Sun 2, chronicling the journey of the Springboks as they strive to successfully defend the Rugby World Cup, free on RugbyPass TV (*unavailable in Africa)

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Comments

4 Comments
J
JK 5 days ago

it's b/c Jonno doesn't listen...funny two ways

H
Hellhound 6 days ago

First time hearing it. Surprised to hear JDV punched someone. What a great guy, on and off the pitch.

B
BeegMike 7 days ago

John Smit has got some good war stories, but this beats most.

O
OJohn 7 days ago

Great story.

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JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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