What comes to mind on the subject of captaincy is that good captains needn't be stars but thoroughably reliable men that augur respect, sometimes a team can be lucky and get both and kill 2 birds with one stone.
On the otherhand you get stars appointed as captains that lack the ability to motivate...it often happens in all endeavours in life.
Captains that stand out in my fast disappearing memory are...Willie John Mc Bride, Morne Du Plessis, Dawie De Villiers, Hugo Porta, Gary Teichman, Jean De Villiers, Adrian Strauss,and ofcourse Wilson Whineray and Colin Meads....all exceptional, but ordinary good players that somehow have not reached the highest accolades make exception captains...I think Of Stephan Terblanche one of the best captains the Sharks ever had and of course Francois Pienaar. There are are a host of good captains that I forgot like Martin Johnson and a few great Frenchmen that I cannot remember at this stage and ofcourse Georgie Greegan and John Eales of Oz and Sean Fitzpatrick and Richie Mc Caw of NZ.
Bismarck Du Plessis in my honest opinion is not the type of captain for WC rugby...a huge player and yes probably the most talented hooker in the world...not sure of Duane Vermeulen too... both exceptional and outstanding players but are they true generals?? I've also left out this accolade to Smitty simply because he failed in my honest opinion in management of the handling of coaches...John Plumtree was stabbed in the back...this is no way to treat a coach you played under and enjoyed the benefits of his tutorship during your red letter days...this is just the way I feel...maybe Im over reacting and this happened afterwards and not in the role of rugby captain but in my book you dont operate like this...there are better ways to come clean and act with integrity and respect...Smitty is a lovely person and we all made mistakes but this shows up a few kinks in your leadership...men follow people that they trust and trust builds respect...not power and money.
We are sitting with a problem at the moment...I really think Adrian Strauss is the best solution.
