Smit forced to leave South Africa's Tri Nations campaign
South Africa's Tri Nations campaign has gone from bad to worse after it was revealed captain John Smit has been forced to return home from New Zealand after suffering a groin injury during Saturday's 19-8 defeat to the All Blacks. Victor Matfield will captain the side for the second game against their hosts in Dunedin this Saturday.
Smit was injured in the first-half of Saturday's loss in a lifting tackle by Brad Thorn, which has seen the All Black second row receive a one-week ban.
And coach Peter de Villiers admitted his side would miss hooker Smit, although he has backed Matfield, who captained the side against Italy last month, to do a fine job.
"That match (against Italy) gave us a chance to get to know Victor's capabilities better and I don't think in that aspect that we will be far off," said de Villiers.
"Victor's got great leadership abilities, the players respect him too, he's already our official vice captain ... I don't think it (losing Smit's captaincy) will be such a great loss.
"However, we will be left with less leaders on the field and that is something we will have to overcome."
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