Even with a huge head clash Jannie was a lot better than Malherbe last week. When I called Jannie the national treasure two years ago, because he was our only test proven tighthead prop, Tokkie howled into the night. But here we are and Jannie is still our only test proven tighthead.
Still the man is getting on and it would be nice to find replacement like Coenie who is better in general play.....so who are the candidates. All of these by the way have at some time got the Saffex seal of approval.
* Werner Kruger....no longer supported, even by Dave
* Coenie.....when I warned no prop could survive with a compromised neck, I was right. Nor was he ever a good scrummager.
* Marcel van der Merwe.....his style of coming up in almost every scrum and then driving forward belly first has led to a bunch of penalties if not belly (excuse the pun) laughs.
* Malherbe, alliterative cousin of Marcel but with the opposite tendencies....dive, dive, dive.....is the issue here. Malherbe is very stretched out and tends to go down. A powerful chap he delivered some good scrumming performances for the Stormers....but last week he was owned by Sio. So this week he is gone.
* Koch.....technically the best tighthead candidate. He takes the pressure, doesn' t fudge by scrumming in, up or down. But he has cracked a few times under pressure in the S15. I hope he shows well on Saturday but there is a measure of doubt.
Which leaves Jannie, still for the moment the national treasure.
