Meyer indicated that De Villiers will remain captain in 2013

During an interview Meyer indicated that De Villiers will remain as captain in 2013.   There are however, a couple of problems in this case .   De Villiers is essentially a number 12 and not relly a reasonable 13.   In essence you cannot have two similar centers on the field and the play of Steyn and De Villiers is actually very similar in style.

Both tend to crashball - without much play further out.   At 13 De Villiers passing game was not really up to standard and on a number of occassions he actually made bad passes to the wings when playing at 13.   I would say that he should peferably play at 12 - where he is likely to play in the Super Series for the Stormers in any event.

The assumption would be that when Steyn is available - he would slot in at 12 - thus resulting in De Villiers to move to 13.   The question remains - will Steyn recover his form - that was largely lacking in 2012?   Steyn's performances this year was not really of the quality expected.   He was slower in taking off with runs and was totally ineffective  in creating space for outside players by drawing in defenders.    Problem is that he did not off-load .balls in tackle situations and his play virtually always ended up in maul situations - with no positive outcomes at all.    All-in-all he will have to show major improvement in the Super 15 series to remain in conention.

The problem remains that if De Villiers is really to advance and improve his level of performance he will have to play at 13 for the Stormers in Super 15.    The Stormers may consider such a move if thus requested  by Meyer.   It may just happen that it would mean that the Stormers is likely to play De Allende at 12.

There is a problem as to his age as well.   De Villiers is by ar least two years the oldest player in the team.   Whereas De Villiers during his career was often enough injured and injuries and recovery periods intend to increase as players get older - the question remains whether injury would not impact on the decision.   The only way that could be done with careful player management - meaning substantial rest periods between games.    Will that in fact happen in the Super Series next year?

Personally I think Meyer is barkking up the wrong tree here and that De Villiers will not make it through to the 2015 WC.      .  

Here is the article

Heyneke Meyer wants Jean de Villiers to continue as Springbok captain in 2013.

When De Villiers was handed the captaincy in early 2012, Meyer made it clear that it was a short-term appointment. Meyer said that he would not be rushed into appointing a long-term skipper, and that he would review this position at the end of the 2012 season.

It was believed that De Villiers’s age (31) counted against the Stormers veteran, as he would in all likelihood not last through to the 2015 World Cup.

But it seems that Meyer has now had a change of heart. Following Saturday’s win at Twickenham, a victory that saw the Boks finishing their three-game tour unbeaten, Meyer confirmed that De Villiers is likely to continue as captain in 2013.

‘Provided Jean is able to carry on and he continues to play like he is at the moment, and there is no reason why he shouldn’t be able to, then I would like him to carry on as the captain next year,’ said Meyer.

‘Jean was new to me at the start of the year in the sense that I had not worked with him before. I had only coached against him [when Meyer worked at the Bulls]. But I went with him as the leader and it has worked out really well.’ (Of course we have had the Jean bashers just like we have had the Meyer bashers)

The Boks have finished the 2012 season with seven wins in 12 Tests (3 losses and at  least 2 losses all because of gola kicking failures). They struggled with injuries to key players throughout the season, but Meyer feels that De Villiers played a key role in keeping the side together.

‘He has done a great job in creating the culture of the team and he was one of the few players, there being two others, who played every Test match this year.

‘He has proved himself to be a really good captain and he has been a great help to me during the course of the year, particularly with the way he has worked with the youngsters

Mike Jean is possiblythe best distributor in the Bok side. No creating fanciful myths about that please. He has crashballed a lot but that not becasue he cant pass!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beeno

You really missed what I said and interpreted  it incorrectly.   De Villiers was not really at home at 13 and fact is he made some bad passes when he played there.    I never said he is a poor passer - I merely referred to some actual problems that happened when he played at 13.  Also his performances in tests playing at 12 was better than when he played at 13.

My suggestion consequently was that to enhance his performances at 13 - the Stromers should rather select him at 13 and give him a chance to adjust to that position by playing there an increasing number of times.   I don't think that the change will be a bad thing at all and it will in fact enhance De Villiers play at 13.

Insofar as the captaincy for the WC is concerned I really am in favour of the Captain being in placed for two years before the WC 

Not really happy with De villiers staying on in 2013. We all know he will not be the long term captain, And I have no issues with him apart from his longevity. So I would really like us to look at a new Captain for 2013, plain and simple no real need to write a novel about it.

 Heyneke will have some real posers as who to start where once all those who are hurt come back and make it through Super 15. Surprised he is sticking his neck out already for JDV when he could have easily hedged his bets as he previously did and say he wasn't ready for a long term commitment to captaincy yet.

Did not think that JDV would last the season but he did and at a position where he was constantly involved in tackling and being used as a battering ram.

JDV, J Du Plessis and Hougaard the only Boks to start all Tests this year - how is Hougaard in that list ?!?!?!?!?!

This is a really poor call, smacks of Meyers conservatism and lack of progression. His record of 58% is poor and selections like this will lend itself to a drop in that rate

lets be fair. the boks won there games fine fair enough but with the type of rugby being played that result could have easily been reversed such is the nature of international rugby. we plonked against a woefull irish side. almost got bullied by a one dimensional scot side and the english should not even have been given a shout. only due to a lucky try we manged to beat the english. we played well but the game quality still leaves alot to be desired. we just competed on talent alone this tour and we managed to scrape through of which i am happy with but there has been not progression on attack and we did not impose ourselves as much as i wanted to see.

our forwards coach aka attacking coach moonlighter surely needs to be taken to task or is the so called attacking role/coach just another window dressing position ?

all the sides in the world at the moment apart from the AB are very very defence minded and the AB are showing that one needs to take it to another level if you want to be the best. the selection of a 30 year old player as yet another year of captaincy to me shows so serious short sighted views as JDV surely does not have another RWC in him. that is why the time is ripe to groom the next generation and allow JDV and co to mentor a player into that jumper. that being said there is not a lot of captains around and i for one do not think a player like schalk is bok captain quality. though a player like juan smith can in my view be a massive captain as he demands and command respect. seeing how the cheetahs lift themselves when he play proves my point.

juan smith on his own is at least 2 players worth. i am just being honest i am not overly confident by what i have seen. there has been progress from the shocking statements by meyer saying there is no room for a fecther at least he has done a 180 and I have been vindicated by harping on about it for ages. meyer and beeno doing a 180 on there statements does really leave a great taste in the mouth.

we will see next year the real effects of over playing our current crop of players, those of you that think that we has some serious injury mark my words next year our player stocks will be decimanted but bad player management and the persistence with the defence only trenchwarfare game pattern.