Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town – John Smit finds himself one tantalising Test away from 100 Springbok caps … yet arguably under the harshest scrutiny of his illustrious international career.

Captain of a Bok team that has been walloped in three successive overseas matches in the Vodacom Tri-Nations and out of contention now to retain their crown, the 32-year-old is, sadly, very high on the list of players whose shelf-lives are looking incredibly tenuous.

That is the unpalatable truth after the latest near-debacle, Saturday’s 30-13 reverse in Brisbane to a Wallabies side supposedly still in a state of transition but simply too good for the wobbling World Cup champions.

I have little doubt that, come August 21 and South Africa’s first shot at restoring some pride against the All Blacks back home in Soweto, Smit will be invited to lead the troops into battle and simultaneously post his poignant century.

He has been a genuinely distinguished servant of the Springbok game, both as leader and player.

But I’ll also bet you this much: a strong lobby during the merciful hiatus over the next few weeks will also howl that being on 99 caps is no special reason for sentiment and that Smit ought to be among several customers dropped on the grounds of rank indifferent form – even if not necessarily permanently.

With the Tri-Nations already almost certain to fall back into Antipodean hands, there is a case for saying that now is the perfect opportunity for the Boks to vigorously shake the bag in the three remaining Tri-Nations fixtures and introduce a few pairs of younger, faster legs in various positions to see whether they offer sound credentials for the World Cup defence in 2011.

And deep down, the currently too-cumbersome Smit, labouring to make the conversion back to No 2 after his stint as tighthead, will know that the likes of Gary Botha, Chiliboy Ralepelle and Tiaan Liebenberg – not to mention Bismarck du Plessis once fit again – are or will be knocking powerfully at the door.

Of course any decision to axe Smit would not, and should not, be taken lightly.

For one thing, it certainly seems as if he still “has the dressing room” as the much-loved captain: if this Bok team is a corpse in some alarming respects, it retains a pulse.

The side which crashed in Brisbane was not lacking for willingness and did not wilt irreversibly -- they kept bashing away nobly even with the outcome emphatically decided.

But it is a harsh fact that they were again out-paced – perhaps the most crucial aspect -- and out-smarted despite being on the receiving end once again of a referee, George Clancy, who tended to blow against them infuriatingly often in the borderline calls.

Also to consider very deeply is that with Smit’s beef back in the middle of the front row to aid the props beside him, the Bok scrum is looking just about secure enough: will it weaken noticeably anew if South Africa decide to employ a lighter, more run-around hooker?

Still, the All Blacks and Wallabies combos of the past three weeks have taken open-play tempo and ball-in-hand wizardry to exciting new levels and the Boks, as much as it may hurt to hear it, have just not been able to keep up.

And Smit, in fairness, has not been the only senior statesman in the Springbok side to look unacceptably off the pace, despite doing certain grapple ‘n grunt tasks to fair enough standards.

We are not seeing great rugby either, at present, from iconic men like Victor Matfield and Bryan Habana, while all of Zane Kirchner, Wynand Olivier, Morne Steyn, Pierre Spies and Schalk Burger can hardly be branded automatic, confident shoe-ins for the New Zealand challenge on the Highveld.

The fact that young guns like Ralepelle, Dewald Potgieter and Juan de Jongh provided some late impetus to the Boks in Brisbane will not have gone unnoticed by the brains-trust (quite rightly under fire themselves, of course).

Oh, to be a fly on the wall as the starting XV for August 21 is decided upon …