In the modest style Smit has made his own, he fended off all talk surrounding what will be a world record 60th test as skipper when South Africa face the All Blacks here on Sunday morning (NZT). He moves clear of the 59 test tally that Australian George Gregan and England's Will Carling share.
All Blacks coach Graham Henry today reiterated his view that Smit and the current Springboks were the toughest he had come up against during six years in charge in New Zealand and during his time with Wales.
"They're ranked No 1 in the world, they're probably the best South African side that I've played against as a coach," Henry said.
"We rank them very highly so they're going to be a very difficult side to contain."
Those sorts of appraisals have been prominently run in newspapers here this week, with some commentators also opining it is a "great" Springboks era.
"The important thing for us is we listen as little as possible to that," Smit said.
"When you talk abut golden eras of teams it's normally spoken about in hindsight.
"The more we hear about how good we are and what we should be doing, the worse it will be for us. I'm tasked as captain to keep perspective. The more we think about milestones and eras, the less we'll think about what needs to be done today."
For all the talk, Smit's Springboks have struggled for consistency under his five-year tenure. They were deserved world champions in 2007 but the All Blacks have denied them the Tri-Nations trophy for the last four seasons, something 31-year-old Smit is conscious of.
"We won it in 2004 and it seems like a lifetime ago in terms of what's been achieved since then," he said.
"Certainly there's a deep burn within our squad that we win this one and many more but it's a tough tournament to win."
Smit said the All Blacks were clearly below their best in last weekend's 28-19 loss at Bloemfontein and his players were braced for a backlash at ABSA Stadium.
"Them not being themselves last week is something we have factored into how we prepared for this test mentally. They'll be a far better team and we just have to make sure we take our game a gear up," he said.
"I don't think there are far greater challenges than facing the All Blacks two weeks in a row. It used to be norm some time back. People sitting on their couches are saying this is what test rugby should be about."
The Springboks haven't recorded successive home wins over the All Blacks in the same year since 1976.
