This is no joke anymore - Fourie du Preez

The following from News24:
" There is renewed concern over the fitness of Fourie du Preez after the Springbok scrumhalf sat out Tuesday afternoon's training session at People's Park in Durban.

Whether or not Du Preez joined the session at a later stage (media were asked to leave after about 20 minutes of the session) is not known, but word from the Bok camp was the he was in some pain after Monday's session and that he would continue to be monitored. 

Du Preez had been identified as one of the players in line to play a part in Saturday's Rugby Championship clash against Argentina at Kings Park as he looks to prove his fitness for this year's Rugby World Cup.

Team doctor Craig Roberts had said on Monday he was happy with Du Preez's performance at training earlier that day, but that how he recovered from the training would be crucial in his availability for the weekend.

"But the test for him will be how he responds to the training load, but he may potentially be ready," Roberts said.

Bok backline coach Ricardo Loubscher also sang Du Preez's praises on Tuesday, and after listening to the former Springbok fullback it sounded like Du Preez was a certainty for Saturday.

"It’s nice to have him (Du Preez) back. He looked good in training yesterday (Monday)," said Loubscher.

"He’s a world class player, we don’t have to elaborate about him and what he brings to the table.

"He’s a nice guy in terms of the leadership to have in the team environment and we can’t wait to have him and for him to get going on Saturday."

Bok coach Heyneke Meyer will announce his side on Wednesday."

Lets look at what happened with Du Preez since June last year:- 

*     After a break in play from March 2014 - Du Preez turned up for the test series against Wales last year.  He was slow and not a shadow of the player he was in the past - seemingly unfit and he did last long.  In the second test he injured his knee and was out of rugby for the rest of 2014;

*    After his return to play for his club he played 9 matches over a slightly over three month period.    Rugby in Japan does not enhance the fitness of players since games are played fortnightly.   Since the end of the Japanese season, Su Preez  has played no further matches.

*     In June Du Preez went back to Japan for training and returned with an injured knee obviously the result of chronic unfitness.   Instead of sending him back to Japan - like he did with Fourie - he kept Du Preez back and put him in the rehabilitation programme.

Yesterday he did the full training programme and the report was that he did well, but it would depend on the full training session today if he is to be selected.  Apparently his knee gave further problems after the training programme yesterday and he did not turn up for the training programme today.

After yesterday when will he be ready to start training again and how will they manage to get him fit after yesterdays problem.   The question is not whether eh will be match-fit at all since he is unlikely to play in anything before the WC commences - since he would be out for more than 6 months by then.

Question is - should Meyer not realize by now he is flogging a dead horse?   He may be - because Du Preez would not get match-fit before the start of the tournament at all.  

Reputation selection is an abomination - it leads to  disaster.            

 Well, if you were a real fan you wouldn't be gloating over the possible exclusion of our best 9. Without him it's Ruan and Placeholder (Reinach), and that severely limits what we can do. But I'm talking to the person who said our tries in 2013 were not yood tries, because Morne played. And that our victories were moral loses! LMAO!!! Some fan.

 
yet this out of shape hasbeen is the favourite to take the Proteas 9 jersey ... no matter what .

class acts like Faff are sent home so that this useless out of shape close personal friend of the coach can take up his position in the team.

Like I said ... merit is not the yardstick Meyer uses to select his team.

Laughable!!!

 Disaster
I am not gloating at all  - I leave wishing for injury to players to Seuntjies and you.   
I am merely stating facts and that is that the sojourn in Japan created an unfit player - who cannot get out of it.  I also pointed out that he will have no match-time for 6 months and  that a player like that leaves more questions than answers when team selection is considered    

 Michael, you are the only "fan" I have seen gloat over injuries. His Japanese stint left him fitter than he was since 2007. But what does Eddie Jones know? He only had first hand experience working with him on both occasions. What a flub you are Michael!

 
He probably ran around a bit on Monday ... and now his out of shape body is riddled with lactic acid which is usually the case after an unfit person does a bit of exercise.

 

 That is amazing junk - any player playing soft rugby in Japan being fitter than he was before.   It is the exact opposite - 
*   Du Preez cannot play two tests in succeeding weeks performing well in the second week test (they only play every fortnight in Japan);
*   players coming back from Japan takes a number of matches to get back to match- fitness (normally at least a month) but some like Steyn and Pietersen enver achieved that in a season;
*   players get injured because of chronic unfitness.
The person who said the opposite is really delusional.   You are just plain stupid to come up with a remark like that.   

 Michael, cardio fitness is not measured by how hard you can crash into someone. Football has even less physicality, but they are considerably fitter than rugby players. Yet again you do not have even the faintest idea of what you are talking about! And you apparantly know more than a world class coach who worked with Du Preez in 2007 and then in Japan. Utterly ridiculous! LOL!!!

 Utter BS - why is his body cracking up then?  Too old to be competitive or what?

 Well, there is certainly no proof to that. Just you trying your damndest to flub your own argument! LOL!! Mission accomplished... You can give yourself a pat on the back now, I know you like those.

 Mike,  Burger also plays in Japan.  He did however play Super Rugby.  I get your point re FdP,  he does seem to be injured regularly.  Let's see how he does on the field,  before making up our minds though. 

"Football has even less physicality, but they are considerably fitter than rugby players"

 
Horseshyte ...

a rugby player runs at pace most of the match ... wrestles with his opponent constantly ... hits the ground only to get up again and hightail it to the next collision point ...

A professional rugby player is a super fit athlete.

That my dear re-tar-d is why it's laughable to even consider the hasbeen Du Preez for Protea selection ... getting the picture now dumbass????

A footballer on the other hand strolls around the field passes the ball on occasion and tries his damndest to win an Oscar at every opportunity.

There is no comparison between the two.

Where do you get all this nonsense from?

A possible thumbsuck??

It really isn't natural to be so mentally slow and reta-rde- d ...

Are you the fruit of an incestuous relationship?

 
Come now Draad ... he shouldn't be on the field to begin with.

A test match is not the place to test your fitness nor to see whether you still have it or not.

Surely you know that?

 

 Draad
That is my view exactly.  I wrote previously that I hope Du Preez plays this week - so we can see what he delivers.  But I am afraid it will not happen and it will not happen next week either.   So there is no chance that he would get any playing time before the RWC.I have stated before that he should show that he is still capable - but the opportunities to do so is running out.

To select Dy Preez "blind" will represent a gamble - no other player will be selected on that basis - if needed in match-fitness problem cases players will get playing time in CC (De Villiers, du Toit, etc) - Du Preez will get zero.      

 CC,  I agree that a test match should not be the place for gauging match fitness,  but there won't be any other opportunity. 20 or even 60 min won't do the trick either.  We need him to perform for at least 70min/match for 2 weeks in a row,  before even contemplating taking him to the RWC.