Monday, May 31, 2010

Springbok Squad - Question marks raised

So Peter deVilliers finally revealed the squad that will be playing overseas for the next couple weeks. Needless to say it revealed quite a few question marks. Below is the line up for this Saturday's fixture against Wales: 15 Frans Steyn 14 Gio Aplon 13 Jaque Fourie 12 Butch James 11 Odwa Ndungane 10 Ruan Pienaar 9 Ricky Januarie 8 Joe van Niekerk 7 Dewald Potgieter 6 Francois Louw 5 Andries Bekker 4 Danie Rossouw 3 BJ Botha 2 John Smit (capt) 1 CJ van der Linde Reserves: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle 17 Jannie du Plessis 18 Alistair Hargreaves 19 Ryan Kankowski 20 Meyer Bosman 21 Juan de Jongh
22 Bjorn Basson
So here begins my questions. Firstly, where on earth is Jean de Villiers? Well the former Stormer Centre injured his shoulder whilst playing for Munster and as is ruled out for the entire winter tour of Europe. As a result he has been replaced by Butch James, who will play alongside Bath's Jacques Fourie in midfield. Another surprise call up was Joe van Niekerk. Absent from the Sprinbok team for close to 5 years, the large 8th man has made a return to the Squad. During his absence he played for french side, Toulon. He is best known for crying during the singing of the national anthem at any international fixture.. the emotions truly run deep with this Giant! Meyer Bosman made his debut for the boks in 2006. The Cheetahs flyhalf and midfielder was most famous for scoring the winning points against the Bulls in the 2005 Currie Cup. He was later called to represent South Africa against Wales in Cardiff which the Boks won 33-16. Bjorn Basson, another surprise call up, is a wing from the Cheetahs outfit. He is most famous for participating in the winning Springbok team in the IRB Nations Cup 2008. Lots of talent, very little experience. Hopefully he will get more than one cap on this tour. Alistair Hargreaves has an awesome pedigree as well, representing the SA U/19 side to the U/19 World Cup in 2004 and 2005. He captained the winning 2005 side. He also represented the U/21 SA side in 2006.
The Islander's Suggestions: Place Juan de Jongh in the starting lineup at inside centre, with Butch James moving to the flyhalf position. Ruan Pienaar will sit on the bench, probably only getting 15 mins game time. De Jongh has perhaps been the best centre in the Super 14 this season and deserves a starting position alongside his partner, Fourie. The Wales match should be an eye-opener. At the moment, out of 23 games against the Welsch, the boks won 21 of them (with 1 loss and 1 draw). My prediction, the Boks will win by 7. Lets hope my prediction this week is better than the Super 14 final (I predicted the Stormers by 14... boy, was I wrong!).

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