Hendrik Cronje

Bloemfontein - On Tuesday evening in London more than 600 carefully selected guests quietly honoured Springbok captain, John Smit, for his exceptional leadership and excellent performances on the field. Smit was honoured for his roles in the 2007 Rugby World Cup, the British and Irish Lions tour and the Tri-Nations.

The guest list included the International Rugby Board's player of the year, New Zealand captain, Richie McCaw as well as the All Black team and a few players who will be representing the Barbarians.

Other than John Smit, Springboks Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez, Bakkies Botha, Schalk Burger, Bryan Habana, Morné Steyn, Beast Mtawarira and Jaque Fourie were also present.

Former Formula One world champion, South African Jody Scheckter, was also in attendance.

"The goal was to raise money for John's charity of choice, Operation Bobbi Bear (Fighting for the rights of sexually abused children)," said Stephan Weyers of Essentially Group who organised the evening.

The evening included an auction where collectables such as the Springbok jersey that Smit played in when he set his world record for number of Tests as captain, were quickly snapped up.

Other jerseys belonging to the Springbok captain and a jersey belonging to British and Irish Lions prop, Phil Vickery, also came under the hammer.

An F1 overall that belonged to Fernando Alonso, that he wore during the 2009 season for Renault, was also auctioned.

Essentially Group recently had a function for Australia's cricket captain, Ricky Ponting, and raised a six-figure amount (in British Pounds).

Smit said in the forward of the program: "This is an excellent climax to the 2009 rugby season".