Smit calls for sanity

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Smit was reacting to reports that the side might embark on a strike if the squad was tampered with politically.

He told the Times newspaper: "It would be hard for me to comment on that (possible strike) now - we need to see what the squad looks like and hope sanity prevails."

Earlier this season SA Rugby president Oregan Hoskins forced coach Jake White to include Luke Watson in the side amid political dissatisfaction with the Springboks' racial make-up, while only this week South Africa's head of the Parliamentary Committee on Sport, Butana Komphela, said the number of black players expected to be picked - six - was "not good enough".

He added: "If the best 30 players are picked, it doesn't matter who it is. Then, I think, the players will be happy."

Meanwhile, Hoskins believes the Springboks should develop their own haka before major international games.

Hoskins was reacting to suggestions from White that the side had thought of reviving a Zulu war dance as a challenge before games.

"This will enable us to use something from the unique culture of South Africa, whether Zulu or Xhosa or whatever, and to make it part of rugby," Hoskins told Afrikaans language Beeld newspaper.

"It would also provide an opportunity for a large part of the population to identify more strongly with rugby."