John Smit and his  victorious Springboks will return to camp, after a 10-day break, to start preparations for the next phase of their international campaign — the Tri-Nations.

And it will be a refreshed Bok squad that will prepare for the home leg — when the Boks play New Zealand (in Bloemfontein on 25 July and Durban, 1 August), as well as Australia (Cape Town, 8 August).

Following the 2-1 series success against the Lions, the Boks have been installed as early Tri-Nations short-priced favourites.

However, the Bok captain, Smit, said his team will have their feet firmly on the ground.

"We are a side that takes it one game at a time and let the results and Cups take care of themselves," Smit said, as he started to look towards the Tri-Nations.

"With the team that we have, it would be naive to think we shouldn't aim to try and win it [the Tri-Nations]," the Bok skipper said, adding that the Lions series victory had been "a great high".

He admitted that till now his team hasn't focussed a massive amount on the Tri-Nations.

"As important as it [the Tri-Nations] is, the Lions tour was always our priority this year.

"We get to shift our attention to the Tri-Nations now," he said, adding that the 10-day break was the ideal opportunity to "freshen up and get away".

"We [now] get together for a colossal Tri-Nations, with three games a piece."

He felt that, despite the obvious high of the series win against the Lions, the 9-28 defeat in the third Test will mean there is no chance of any complacency in the Bok camp.

"There are lessons to be learnt when we get back - to keep the guys' feet on the ground and make sure we keep working.

"The Tri-Nations is really important to us and we'll be going out there to do our best."

Asked if the Boks will be more confident this year about their Tri-Nations prospects, Smit said they will star from scratch again in the Tri-Nations.

"We were confident last year, but we let ourselves down and the aim will be not to repeat that process," he added.

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