Ex Superpsort
The Springboks could have a new captain this coming week as incumbent Jean de Villiers’ chances of taking the reins again nosedived on Monday.
As the Boks started their preparations at Loftus Versfeld, De Villiers sat on the sideline, but it was only at the medical briefing that the seriousness of the injury.
De Villiers will be given enough time to try and recover, but from the looks of things on Monday, it was unlikely that he would play against Samoa in the Castle Incoming Series decider at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
“Jean has picked up a sternum injury – that is the joint between the sternum and the collarbone. He picked it up early in the game and it was sore today,” team doctor Craig Roberts announced on Monday.
“ At the moment I’ll put it down to 50-50 his chances of being in the game, but we will make a decision at the last minute as to his availability on the weekend.”
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer was more forthright, saying if De Villiers wasn’t 100% fit then he wouldn’t play.
“To play for your country is the pinnacle of every player’s career, and every test match is a big occasion. You still have to look at yourself in the mirror though, and we believe in integrity in this team,” Meyer said.
“ Jean has come through miraculously in the past, but I’m really worried this time. He probably should have come off in that game, but he is a warrior and he played with distinction and came through the game. If he isn’t right he won’t play.”
That of course means that he will need to pick a new captain, a topic that has hung over Meyer’s head since day one and is consistently revisited every time the question of De Villiers’ future is uttered at a press conference.
De Villiers wasn’t ever meant to be a long-term option, and the Bok captain has already played 15 matches of 80 minutes each this year, including on Saturday’s game when he played throughout with the injury.
The most likely candidates are either hooker Adriaan Strauss or flanker Francois Louw. Both are exceptional leaders in their own right while an outside chance is Bismarck du Plessis.
If Meyer goes with Strauss in such a scenario, then he may risk another situation where his captain is challenged on form for the place in the squad, as happened so famously between Bismarck and John Smit at the 2011 World Cup.
If he goes with Louw, it will send out an interesting message that the Bok captain plays his rugby overseas, hardly the sort of thing Meyer wants to trumpet when SA Rugby are struggling to keep players in South Africa.
But at least this year Heyneke has options, other than last year where he never really had much choice other than De Villiers for the captaincy.
“A year in rugby is a very long time. This time last year I was very worried because there wasn’t a lot of leaders but suddenly there are a lot of leaders putting up their hands. I’ve got a lot of confidence in Adriaan and Bismarck can lead. Pierre (Spies) as well and Bryan (Habana) has taken a lot of leadership from the senior guys as well and I’m very happy with Flo, who is captain at his club Bath. Suddenly there are a lot of leaders there and Morne (Steyn) has come to the fore as well.
“I’ve said from the start you can’t have one captain playing every single game. If you have an injury in the World Cup, then you don’t have someone to fall back on. So I’ve always been looking to give someone a chance. Knowing South Africa, you have to win every game, every game is a must win and there are no easy test matches. The previous Saturday proved this, and the next Saturday is just as tough.”
With De Villiers’ injury, Juan de Jongh’s name comes to the fore as a possible man on the bench, with Jan Serfontein likely to start in that scenario. Robert Ebersohn, who would have returned to the Cheetahs this week, will stay on with the team as cover.(please put Robert on the bench!!! What utter nonsense palying de Jongh before him!)
Dr Roberts also confirmed that Arno Botha will undergo surgery on Wednesday for his cruciate ligament knee tear, and is likely to be out “for between six and 10 months”.
Eben Etzebeth, Jannie du Plessis and Spies also sat out training with various bumps while Willem Alberts looks set to return to the squad this weekend after coming through Monday’s training well.
“There are a couple of guys who sat out training today with bumps and bruises. The one is Eben Etzebeth, who has an AC joint sprain and the other is Jannie du Plessis and Pierre Spies, who both picked up quite nasty lacerations in the game and came off with blood. I’ve just kept them out of contact today to give them time to heal,” Roberts said.
“Willem did well. We’re building him into the training session, so he did half the load today and tomorrow he will do a little bit more. The key is tomorrow to see if he can get through a whole lot of things and then we will make a decision about his availability later on in the week. But he’s looking good at this stage.”
The selection of the side to play Samoa will be very interesting.
Huge pity about Arno.
