Springbok captain John Smit has revealed that, with support from players around the world, the South Africans have taken a stand against what he termed the 'ludicrous' ban of teammate Bakkies Botha this week.

Speaking ahead of the third and final Test against the British and Irish Lions in Johannesburg on Saturday, the Bok captain blasted the judicial process that saw the Bok stalwart, Botha, banned for two weeks after "cleaning out" a ruck in South Africa's 28-25 second Test win over the Lions in Pretoria last week.

The 31-year-old Smit, on the brink of being the most capped captain of all time, will lead his team onto the field for a record 58th time and will also play in his 84th Test.

The Bok captain said he "hopes and prays" the ban and subsequent decision to turn down an appeal against the ban was just "victimisation" of the Bok lock.

"This ruling creates a scary scenario for the future of the game," the Bok captain said at his Friday media briefing, adding that the players from around the world are not happy about the decision.

Asked if his team would not approach rucks differently, considering the ruling he was adamant that the ruling was wrong for the game in general.

"The wonderful thing about Rugby Union is that you get to run into each other at a million miles and hour and tackle each other at a million miles and hour... although not anymore," he said, adding that after the game you "stitch yourself up" and go and enjoy a beer with the opposition.

"We are deeply saddened, probably more angry than anything else about the outcome of the Bakkies Botha case.

"I think we must hope and pray that it is purely just victimisation of Bakkies and not the way the game is going. If it is not victimisation of Bakkies Botha, for the way that he plays the game hard, a ruling like this could change this wonderful game of ours for good and that for us is a great concern.

"The players are not happy and we will stand together in this regard and make a point and take a stand about what has happened.

"I do believe that [Botha has been victimised], because if he has been found guilty for something that is not part of the game, I think we can take probably 15/20 clips out of every single Test match and ban every single guy that has cleaned a ruck. I have to hope and pray it is victimisation of an individual, otherwise this game is going in the wrong direction."

Asked why he thought Botha were being victimised, Smith said: "That is what we are trying to find out, hopefully it is not because he is too strong for this game."

The Bok captain revealed that they have even had support from referees in their stand on the matter.

"We've had an appeal and we didn't get the desired result out of the appeal," he said about the reason why they are making public their views.

"We really didn't have sanity prevail in the appeal and we have had referees calling us to say that it is an issue we need to stand for, because to let something like pass will set a precedent that would probably ruin the game from a ruck point of view.

"We've had support from the Lions management, who also said they don't agree with his citing. We've had support from the Lions squad and I've had support from players around the country and around the world, who I have played with and against, who have said it is also ludicrous.

"So, we've got hope yet, although sanity hasn't prevailed yet, that it will do in future."

He repeated his statement that Rugby Union is a "unique" sport.

"It's a contact sport and while there's no place for dirty or foul play, it has place for players to throw themselves into a ruck, to tackle hard, to run with the ball as hard as they can.

"That's the nature of this game and there's a fine balanced in this game, that's what makes it unique.

"For a ruling to be made on a guy like Bakkies, who went into the ruck from behind the 'gates' and with his arms bound, without a shoulder charge. The unfortunate thing is that Adam Jones got injured in the process, but purely just because his arm got stuck min the ruck.

"We have to look at the incident, point-three-of-a-second after Bakkies cleaned Adam Jones, Bakkies was cleaned by [Matthew] Rees [the Lions hooker].

"There is just no way we could be unhappy with what Rees did. Bakkies cleaned and he cleaned Bakkies out - that is the nature of the game we play, so this ruling creates a scary scenario for the future of the game."

365

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