How long will De Villiers last?

I have always been an admirer of Jean De Villiers - ever since I sw him first playing for Western Province in 2003.   However, he is on the wrong side of 30 and will have to be replaced at one stage or another.   He was excelling in the matches capatained by him this year, but at his age more frequent injuries could be a problem and he is definitely not going to be playing in the next WC/

Meyer has a problem though.   He is building up a team and there is no real alternative insofar as the captaincy is concerned.    If not De Villiers - the question is whom could do the job?   Spies is not a certainty for selection - I think vermeulen would comne into the picture.   The possibility is that Burger would get the job next year - but who else?

My own opinion is that in the longer term Vermeulen is likely to be captain - what do you think?

 Agree - love the way JDV has stepped up, but I think he would be fortunate to make it through rest of Super Rugby, 4N's and EOY tours without injury. I really hope he does though - been fun to watch his re-emergence.

Schalk would seem to be the natural successor, lots of experience, loose forward always around the action - I am worried about his injury though. That type of knee injury almost always affects strength and explosiveness and he has some serious competition for his spot now - more than say Bekker does. Especially since I think Brussouw will be back in the mix in 4N's to counter Pockok and McCaw.

Vermeulen is intriguing, but he's a bit of a hothead, no? M Steyn may get a look especially if the kicking comes round (where's Percy to help him out :) - Meyer does seem "married" to the idea of him at flyhalf.

 Vermeulen is a great option, but for now, i think Heynecke is playing it as it is. Give it some time for the young guys to develop. Jean is there. And there are some other senior player as well that can step up and take the slack in the meantime until heynecke finds the right long term guy if jean get's injured. Jean is doing a ver good job, and is the perfect short term option for now. So let's do like heynecke wait it out and the right guy will stand up, without it bieng forced.

oimatey

I never thought of Morne Steyn as a possible captain - but everything is possible and he seems to be the blue eyed boy of Meyer.    However, he has a problem - it is not only his goalkicking that has been problematic.   I looked at Saturdays game again.   That kick he launched deep in th second half was not out and it caused the resultant play that lead to the injury of Kruger.  

A number of other kicks also went awry - so there is a real problem here.  

In the longer term I think that Steyn would not survive in the team - mnaybe this year, but then the kids are going to catch up with him.   I think particularly Goosen and Pollard will be his undoing.

jean has been given n new lease on live since moving to 13 i feel. he has maybe 2 years max left. in terms of captain i feel the captain should be a player that is a automatic selection. that is why i feel meyer might go for bismarck maybe. he is the vice captain and meyer does like the idea that a forward is the captain.

in terms of steyn...i feel steyn might be very lucky to even survive the year in the bok team nevermind being handed the captaincy. his days are really numbered

 `Hey Carpet i see some guys think Bismark will be a good captain. sorry mate, i don't agree, that guy should not be captain. A captain should be a leader and lead by example on and off the field. Bismarck is too much of a hardass to be captain. difference between leadining an the field by bieng a hardass, you should be the total opposite off the field and engaging well spoken gentleman i feel he is not. Brilliant player, but a no for captain no problem with him bieng vice captain on the field though.

i agree i with you on that point ek....to be honest its really a tough choice. burger in my view might not be a first choice in his jumper seeing we have alberts, vermeulen, spies, smith (maybe) brussouw (my automatic selection) and a whole host other pretenders to the "throne" so where does one fit him in.

burger as captain has not had a very decent stint either with his lack of leadership in the really tough match situation. i am think of the semis where he needed to pull the guys together and he let the team slide to defeats in both big games. its a tall order to replace a captian like john smit but he needs to groomed early. jean wont last until the next rwc so we need to start early and get it finalised.

He can guide us for at least another 2 years... o'Driscol is 33 and still firing like a 20 something year old. Jean is not showing the signs of age and it has to said that since being made captain he has had 2 fantastic games if not 2 of the best of his Springbok career. Captaincy seems to improve his game. I can’t see him being there come WC time but he can get us there for sure.

Let me add something here based on the potential team set up.   I think Spies would have been VC if Meyer thought that he would last as no 8.   Heyneke himself played at 8 - so that could have been an influence in this case.   So Spies is out of contention.

I do not see Bismarck as captain - he would "kill" the referee if he think he made a wrong decision - he is no diplomat at all and the captaincy requires diplomatic skill as well.

Either the captaincy ultimately would come from one of the younger players - thats why i give Vermeulen a chance.   He may however also be to hardass for the job - but did a good job when he captained the Stormers in that one game in Australia.

Burger and Bekker could also be in the frame - but they seem to be injury prone at this stage in their playing careers.    That may ultimately be a problem.

 I agree Duanne is a hardass on the field, but i get the impression that off the field his personality is a bit different. He looks to be a calm oke. Well it is still early days on his ability to captain and keep calm, we will need to see more of him in the environment. maybe he should get more chances to captain the Province or Stormers side then we can make a call on him. The other thing is we have no idea how much the other players look up to him as a leader, this is also an important thing to consider and only the Coach and guys that play with him can make that call.

 To be clear - M Steyn would NOT be my pick for captaincy, but if he gets back to form and with the game plan Meyer likes I could see it happening.

Come on guys, Vermeulen doesn't even have one cap, and there is no guarantee that he'll get one. I like him as a player, don't get me wrong, but he is on the opposite end of the scale to Spies if you are looking at horses for courses, because while he is brilliant at what he does, he will never be the kind of athlete Spies is, fast, agile etc. Vermeulen will, I'm sure, become a Springbok, and deservedly so, but the point I am trying to make is, he is not the kind of player that will ever be guaranteed a spot in the team. I said it in another thread, but you want the out and out best player in a given position to be the captain, that way he won't keep a better player benched (Bizzie vs Smit). Again, EXAMPLES of players I would look at are Hougard, Bizzie, possibly Lambie if he makes a specific position his own, or even Frans Steyn. Look I know the above four aren't currently the best leaders, but you can't argue my logic.

As for Burger, he'd be a great captain, but he is also no spring chicken, and with the pounding his body has taken, do you honestly expect him to make the next WC? Same goes for Jean, he puts his body on the line, and at the moment we don't have a better option at captain, but his leaving it all out on the field WILL take its toll on him physically. Unfortunately, with his age and the beating his body is taking, HE WON'T MAKE THE NEXT WORLD CUP!

for me the next bok captain must be at least a player that has been with the team a while and understands the team culture and commands respect from the other players. burger, JDV and co are part of the players that are going to retire in the next couple of years so it makes no sense to pick them as captain. the captain needs to be the long term captain reason being like many roles being a leader takes to learn and master.

my money is on bismarck to be the next bok captain. in saying that he needs to work on some of his communication skills.

Agreed carpet muncher, that is exactly what I was getting at in my previous post. The future is Bizmark, Hougard, F Steyn. Watch this space!!

Have to agree with Bismark. 

Hougaard or F Steyn as vice to marshal the backline, can't see them leading the team.

the long term fututre is always important, but like jedi master qui-gon jinn said, "u must be mindful of the future, but not at the expense of the present."

old players do have a greater risk of injury then their younger counterparts, but they also have a wealth of experience and knowledge that one only gets after a career the likes of which JDV has.
players like englbrecht will benifit by being around players like JDV, even if englebrecht dosent get gametime he still remains in the squad and submerges himself in the culture, while learning his trade from the master. while all this is going on, JDV contributes to the Boks by playing well, which he has done all year.

teams these days have leadership groups, usually composed of senior players who have been there done that, and they as a whole  also help the captain. players like habana, jp pieterson, m steyn, spies, pienaar all help JDV keep the machine known as the Boks rolling forward. the next captain will also have that group to help and aid him.
when thinking of a future captain, no other name really comes to mind other then bismarck, yes hes a hardass, but thats not a bad thing and his ability to front up and play hard, plus the leadership doing their part, bismarck really would make a fine captain,
 

 Well JDV sure has coped well thus far. But like all players he will not be around much longer.

Bissy is a great player but I have my concerns about him being the Bok captain.

Don't be surprised to see Chilliboy get the nod from you know where!!!!!!

Now don't shoot just yet.

 Please don't make Bismarck captain - why would you want to tame that man? As captain he would have to be self-controlled, polite, reserved  - so much less effective !!!

 oh you have a point :)

I actually have no problem with either Chilliboy or Strauss as Captains as i rate them both as leaders. Problem is not their ability to Captain. It's weither they are the best in their position.

But as I said before there is bound to be some young player that stands up inside the Bok camps in the next 2 years. So let Jean do it, as long as it takes. At least we have some time on our hyands now, and there will be some stability.

Another thing is I am also not a fan of a captain appointed on such a long term as 4 years. So I rather like this idea. 

i do prefer a 4 year captain because it adds that much needed stabilty that is needed. you dont want a situation that you go the the RWC with a captain that is not use to the captain role. as i said in a previous post it takes as much time to learn to be a great captain as anything else... they need to choose a long term captain soon and he shoule be around until the next RWC. i think strauss wil also be a great captain but then will you be happy then to bench bismarck again ????

I agree with carpetmuncher. I like the idea of a captain the is well settled in his role. McCaw, Smit, Johnson, Gregan, Pienaar...all well established captains that led their teams to the World Cup trophy.

 the problem with a 4 year captain is that he will most probably always get challenged in his position by a younger player after 2 year. I don't say definitely i say most probably.

I would prefer a 2 year rotation and after two years a revision, If he is still good enough to be a first choice then yes appoint him again, if not replace him. this way you have continuity. A captain in the job for one year before the World cup is still accpetable for me, there is enough continuity there for him to have been involved int he planning for the tournament. 

The world cup should not be the only aim to win, every game should be the aim.

john smit's first years as captain was very very testing and if i can recall people called for his head but after 2 to 3 years at the helm he got use to the role the players accepted him as well. great leaders take time its a well known fact. all the names that EK named above were not great from the start. one grows into the role over time. so lets hope meyer chooses the long term captain quickly or else we will be faced with a situation were there will be way to many chiefs an no indians....

Admit one, leaving blank posts is not the way to get beyond the orange peeler status. lol. Carpet and Ek, yo both make good points, but I'll stand by my logic that it takes time for a good wine to mature. Ek, you are right, we can't only focus on the World Cup, we need to win in between as well, but picking the right captain now will aloow us to do both of those things. Also, at the end of the year, when De Villiers capataincy will come to an end, there will only be two and a half years left to the next world cup. I strongly believe that we need to have our World cup Captain, whoever it may be, leading the Springboks from then, because even 2.5 years is cutting it fine.

 Admitted one I ont think so. The captains in the next few years will be jean and Schal. Schalk is I think  29 so if he keeps fit he could still be there come the next world cup. He was SA rugby player of the year in 2011 a fact many forget.

In the meantime  Meyer and Rassie will look for emmeging captaincy talent.