Juanne Hugo Smith (born 30 July 1981) is a South African former professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player who represented

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in international test rugby, the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat native to Africa and central Iran. It is the fastest land animal, estimated to be capable of running at with the fastest reliably recorded speeds being , and as such has evolved specialized ...

in the Super Rugby competition, and the

Free State Cheetahs The Free State Cheetahs (formerly the Orange Free State), currently named the Toyota Free State Cheetahs, for sponsorship reasons, are a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by th ...

in the

Currie Cup The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...

. He mainly played as a blindside flanker, although he has also played number eight.

Career

Smith made his international debut for South Africa on 7 June 2003 as a reserve in the 29–25 victory over

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

Kings Park Stadium The Kings Park Stadium (known as the Hollywoodbets Kings Park for sponsorship reasons since 2022), is a stadium located in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct in Durban, South Africa. The stadium was originally built with a capacity of 12,000 an ...

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

. He was also named in the Springboks' team for the second Scottish Test the following week. He then played at number 8 during the

2003 Tri Nations Series The 2003 Tri Nations Series was contested from 12 July to 16 August between the national rugby union teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand won the tournament for the fifth time. New Zealand regained the Bledisloe Cup whi ...

against Australia and the

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

. Smith was included in the Springboks squad for the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

in Australia. He played in four matches at the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

and scored a try in the match against

Manu Samoa The Samoa national rugby union team (also known as Manu Samoa) represents Samoa in men's international rugby union and it is governed by the Samoa Rugby Union. They are also known as Manu Samoa, which is thought to derive from the name of a Samo ...

. Although he only played the one Test for South Africa during 2004 – against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

at Millennium Stadium in

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

in November, he was capped 10 times for the Springboks the following season. He was a reserve in matches against

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, before being moving up into the starting line-up again as a flanker for the

2005 Tri Nations Series The 2005 Tri Nations Series, an annual rugby union competition between the national teams of Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, was the tenth in the series. The competition is organised by SANZAR, a consortium of the three countries' rugb ...

. The

made it to the 2005 Currie Cup final, where they defeated the

Blue Bulls The Blue Bulls (known for sponsorship reasons as the Vodacom Blue Bulls) is a South African rugby union team that participates in the annual Currie Cup tournament. They are governed by the Blue Bulls Rugby Union and are based at Loftus Versfe ...

to win the championship. He then played in the 20–16 loss against France at Stade de France in Paris. The Cheetahs gained entrance into the Super 14, and competed in the 2006 season. Smith captained the side, which ended up doing remarkably well for a new team, and the Cheetahs finished above the other new team, the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

, as well as three other Super 14 teams. He played in the

2006 mid-year rugby tests The 2006 June rugby union tests (also known as the summer tests in the Northern Hemisphere) were rugby union Test matches played during between June in 2006. It saw several tests between touring Northern Hemisphere sides and home Southern Hemisphe ...

wins over Scotland, as well as the loss against France in South Africa, then being named in the Springboks'

2006 Tri Nations Series 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

squad. Smith was a key part of the World Cup-winning team to lift the Webb Ellis trophy in 2007. Although Smith wears the number seven on the back of his shirt, implying that he is an open side flanker, he is actually a blindside flanker, as the custom in South Africa is for openside to wear the number six rather than seven. Renowned for his strong ball carrying, Smith is one of the best blindside flankers in the world. On 25 February 2011, in a Super Rugby match against the Bulls in Bloemfontein, Smith tore his Achilles tendon, which caused him to miss the rest of the 2011 Super Rugby season, as well as the Tri Nations and the 2011 Rugby World Cup. In April 2012, Smith announced that he would be taking an indefinite break from rugby due to the ongoing battle with his Achilles injury. He had had four operations on the injury but was concerned that the recovery was taking longer than he had hoped. "The right thing to do now is to give my injury sufficient time to heal 100%," Smith said in an interview with the ''

Volksblad The ''Volksblad'' (English: People's Journal) is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper published in Bloemfontein, South Africa, and distributed in the Free State and Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated ...

'' newspaper. Despite making his long-awaited comeback for the playing against the in a pre-season game in February 2013, the results of a subsequent MRI scan forced Smith to announce his retirement from the game. On 10 September 2013 it was announced that Smith had been persuaded to come out of retirement and had signed a deal with

RC Toulonnais Rugby Club Toulonnais (), also known as RCT but usually Toulon; oc, Rugbi Club Tolonenc) is a French professional rugby union club based in Toulon in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. A current participant in the first-tier Top 14 competition, they ...

. Smith's 2013 season return to rugby resembles a fairytale story. Returning from a career ending injury to an unprecedentedly successful season, Toulon won the Heineken Cup, becoming only the third team ever to retain the title. On 24 May 2014, Smith scored the decisive try in the 60th minute of the final against Saracens. He also played a crucial part in the final of the French

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

a week later on 31 May 2014, in which Toulon defeated Castres Olympique to win the title for the first time since 1992. Subsequently, and capping a remarkable comeback year, on 6 August 2014, Smith was recalled to the Springboks team for the Rugby Championship against New Zealand, Australia and Argentina. In 2015 Smith again won the European Rugby Champions Cup with Toulon. Smith then had a short stint in Japan with Toyota Verblitz, but left citing family reasons, and retired from all rugby in 2017.

Honours

;South Africa Under-21 *

: 2002 ;

: 2005 ;

: 2007 * Tri-Nations: 2009 *Lions Series: 2009 ;

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

* Heineken Cup European Champions/ European Rugby Champions Cup:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, 2015 * Top 14 French League:

References

External links

Cheetahs profile
*

on genslin.us

at ESPN Scrum {{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Juan 1981 births Living people South African rugby union players South Africa international rugby union players Cheetahs (rugby union) players Free State Cheetahs players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players South African people of British descent Rugby union flankers Rugby union number eights South African expatriate rugby union players South African expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate rugby union players in France RC Toulonnais players Rugby union players from Bloemfontein