Attention must be paid (Gallo)

If the Boks beat the All Blacks it will be their second in succession against their long-time arch-enemies.

Going with the 28-19 victory in Bloemfontein last week, it would put the Boks in with a great chance of making it a home leg clean sweep and leave them just win away from making sure of their third Tri-Nations title.

But Smit was refusing to get ahead of himself at a press conference in Durban on Friday, and was taking the "one game at a time approach" as well as putting his record breaking achievement in becoming the highest ever capped international skipper out of his mind.

"Obviously there has been a lot of talk about my record this week but I am honestly not giving too much thought to it because for me the most important thing is that we beat the All Blacks," said Smit.

“We are at a critical stage of the tournament in that if we follow up last week's win with another, it will leave us really well placed. I wouldn't say we are thinking of a clean sweep, as there is a lot of rugby still to be played before we get there, but a win would mean a lot to us in terms of this competition."

"Beating the All Blacks is paramount to what sort of success we hope to have in the Tri-Nations. I don't think there are greater challenges than facing the All Blacks two weeks in a row. It used to be the norm some time back, but for us it is a rare opportunity."

Smit is expecting the All Blacks to be better this week than they were in Bloemfontein, and said the Boks were always building for this to be a tough match against a team with a lot to prove.

"We always took for granted that if we beat them in Bloemfontein they would not be happy with that and that there would be a backlash from them," he said.

"Them not being themselves last week is something we had factored into how we prepared for this Test mentally. They'll be a far better team and we just have to make sure we take our game up a gear as well."

Smit's record is a remarkable achievement, and he would love to celebrate his 60th game with an important victory which would give him a noteworthy 50 percent success record against the All Blacks.

"I don't know what my personal record is against the All Blacks but I would not imagine it is that good. No-one's is particularly good. If we say we have done well against the All Blacks, that is only because we are comparing ourselves with how other teams have done against them."

Smit has in fact won four of the nine games he has led the Boks in against the All Blacks, which would make it five wins and five losses if the Boks win on Saturday.

It would give him the best record against the All Blacks of all the Bok post-isolation skippers, with Gary Teichmann being next best (three wins in seven tests).

Since 2004, when Jake White took over in what was the start of the build-up to the 2007 World Cup triumph, the Boks have won five of 13 matches, but some of their defeats were skewed by the decision to send an under-strength team to the away leg of the 2007 Tri-Nations, as well as the injuries that ravaged the Boks in White's annus horibilis of 2006.

Bok/All Black results since start of 2004

2004 Lost 21-23 Christchurch, Won 42-26 Johannesburg

2005 Won 22-16 Cape Town, Lost 27-31 Dunedin

2006 Lost 17-35 Wellington, Lost 26-45 Pretoria, Won 21-20 Rustenburg

2007 Lost 21-26 Durban, Lost 6-33 Christchurch

2008 Lost 8-19 Wellington, Won 30-28, Lost 0-19 Cape Town

2009 Won 28-19 Bloemfontein