Victorious Springbok captain John Smit believed his team was on the right track to retain their World Cup title in New Zealand in 2011.

Smit and his world-conquering Springbok team arrived home to an enthusiastic welcome from a uproarious crowd in Johannesburg on Monday.

Having won the Tri-Nations title for the first time since 2004 - to go along with the whitewash of the All Blacks, World Cup, a B&I Lions series victory, the Mandela Challenge Plate (for a 2-1 series win against Australia) and the Freedom Com (beating the All Blacks 3-0) - Smit said his team was ideally placed to push on to the next World Cup.

"It's a special time for South Africans in general, we seem to be excelling in all areas," said the skipper.

"To have the Springboks becoming the No.1 side in the world, winning the Tri-Nations and beating the British and Irish Lions gives us a huge amount of focus and momentum. But it's important to stay humble and keep working.

"We have to make sure that we don't make this the highlight of the last five years, but rather keep on going and keep these guys together.

"The strength of this side is that we have a good group of people, not just players. So if we keep them together and keep working, we will have a crack at the next World Cup."

Like Smit, coach Peter de Villiers also cautioned against becoming over-confident.

"This is the second time we beat them [New Zealand] in two years [in their back yard]. But it doesn't mean that we will win everything now," De Villiers said at the team's arrival.

"We just have to bite the bullet and keep going to maintain the number one spot."

The Springboks won seven of their nine Tests this season, and although it is not near the records posted by the side under Nick Mallett in 1997 and 1998 when they won 17 consecutive Tests, this time it was achieved against the world's best.

The All Blacks are ranked second to the Springboks in the world and the Wallabies third, and the composite British and Irish Lions is a true reflection of the strength of the game in the Northern Hemisphere.

While there are many wise old heads who caution against calling this the best Springbok side of all time, there can be little doubt that this is the best teams since readmission which came early for the Boks when they played New Zealand at Ellis Park in 1992.

The Boks this season beat the B&I Lions 2-1 in a series to turn around the 1997 series result, and also won the Tri-Nations for only the third time in its 14 years and the first time since 2004.

The Springboks then beat the Wallabies once in Cape Town and once in Perth before losing their focus and the match in Brisbane 10 days ago, for their only defeat in the six-match Tri-Nations series – the best performance yet in the competition by any side.

The All Blacks were beaten three times – the first time this has happened in a single season since 1949 when the Kiwis were white-washed in South Africa.

It was also the first time since 1937 that the Springboks had won two consecutive Test matches in New Zealand, Saturday's win at Hamilton following on the win against the All Blacks in Dunedin last season.

The other two wins in this year's Tri-Nations came in Bloemfontein and in Durban.

365

Battered, but happy... Battered but happy, Rob Peters recounts his first boxing bout at Harrington Street Boxing Gym.

Justice for all? Rob Peters discusses yet another laughably inconsistent ban on a South African player...

Blame the greedy players! iafrica.com's Khaya Ndubane says Joel Santana is not the only one to blame for SA's demise.