Ex Supersport
You can take it as read – Fourie du Preez will be at the helm of the Springboks when they start Heyneke Meyer’s tenure as coach against England at Kings Park in Durban on 9 June.
Meyer confirmed at a press conference in Umhlanga Rocks on Monday that his meeting with the former Bulls and Springbok scrumhalf to discuss his availability both to play and if possible to lead the side had gone very well.
“I can tell you that Fourie is definitely available. He wants to play for his country and he is being considered as a possible captain,” said Meyer.
Meyer stressed that an announcement will only be made on Saturday night, when a 32 man squad is named for the three match series against England after the Bulls/Stormers clash at Loftus. He also took pains to point out that there are other capable leaders in his group, and for this reason he will only be making a captaincy appointment for the first three tests.
“Once I get to know the players better I will be in a better position to say what they will give me. When I first made the decision to only name a short-term captain I had my doubts about it, but those doubts are now gone. The leadership potential in the expanded group is great and it may only need me to spend some time to get to know the players before I can make a long term appointment.”
However Meyer has stressed several times in the past that he wants a player who knows his game-plan intimately, which was why he tried to get Victor Matfield involved. Now that Matfield is not available because of an IRB ruling that would place too much red tape in the way of a comeback, Du Preez is the obvious choice, and Meyer has talked up his captaincy claims. It was always going to depend just on whether Du Preez, about whom conflicting messages have been sent out recently, was prepared to do the job.
The coach regards Du Preez as a clever player, and at the start of an era where the Boks are going to be paying more attention to detail under the directorship of the highly technical Meyer and his technical adviser Rassie Erasmus, the coach needs a captain who doesn’t need to think twice about what the coach wants and knows how to react instantaneously in a manner which will be in accordance with the coach’s thinking.
It is also abundantly clear from the game plan that Meyer wants put in place that Du Preez is the obvious scrumhalf choice, with Francois Hougaard at this stage of his career lacking the pinpoint tactical kicking game that Meyer regards as so important from a scrumhalf. Part of Du Preez’s role this year will be to guide Hougaard, though there is a growing perception that Hougaard might be a better wing than a scrumhalf.
Meyer confirmed on Monday that Ruan Pienaar would be joining up with the squad from Ulster when it gathers next week, and this makes sense as he is the South African scrumhalf that comes closest to replicating the Du Preez style of play and the Du Preez strengths.
At this stage it is not clear though whether the other big name South African player currently based overseas, Frans Steyn, will be available for the first test on Saturday week.
“We have to clear up a few ends and we are waiting for confirmation on a few things from one of the franchises. I am going to be having a few meetings and hopefully an announcement will be made but at this stage we are not 100% sure whether Frans will be able to play in the first test of the series.”
One issue settled then.
