Pumas in for Louw blow
16 Aug 2006
With Justin Melck out injured, SA U21 loose forward Pieter Louw gets his first start for Vodacom Western Province this season.
Due to the successful back row combination of Melck, Luke Watson and Robbie Diack, as well as Kobus van der Merwe’s inclination to stick with a winning formula, Louw has received minimal game time this season. This seems surprising considering his pedigree, as the 21-year old represented his country at the U21 World Championship in France earlier this year, and was also a part of the same team who won the tournament in 2005.
“There is a lot of competition in the side at the moment, and the loosies have been playing particularly well,” Louw told keo.co.za. “It’s good to be in a team where you have a lot of guys pushing for a spot in the starting line-up.”
Melck has not yet recovered from the thumb injury he sustained against Griquas a fortnight ago, and so Louw replaces him on the side of the WP scrum. He helped the Baby Boks win the World Championship in Argentina last year at No 8, but feels that he is versatile enough to perform just as well on the flank.
“I’m looking forward to playing at No 7. I am one who believes that a loose forward has to be good at everything. You need to be a strong ball-carrier, quick to the ball on the ground, and of course, uncompromising on defence.
“We haven’t decided whether myself and Luke will play as two fetchers or as a regular blindside and openside. It will depend on the particular situation we find ourselves in against the Pumas.”
Getting back into a winning team is not easy for a player returning from injury, as Ross Skeate and Andries Bekker discovered recently. Current WP second rowers Francois van der Merwe and Gerrie Britz have done well in the stead of Skeate and Bekker, who both got crocked ahead of the Absa Currie Cup opener. Skeate and Bekker should return at some stage, but with the incumbents performing, the WP coaching staff will be reluctant to make a change just yet.
With Melck out, Louw is aware of the similar opportunity that has been set before him. “I now have a great chance to go out there and show my coach what I can do. I’ve been looking forward to getting a full 80 minutes, so I’ll be sure not to waste the opportunity.
“Running out at Newlands for the first time is also something I’ve been looking forward to all season. Griquas showed us that we can’t take the smaller unions for granted. That was a fantastic game, they pushed us, but we held out and won the match.
“The Pumas have struggled this year, but we won’t make the mistake of underestimating them.”
By Jon Cardinelli
309 Comments
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16 Aug 2006, 16:14 pm
..
16 Aug 2006, 16:14 pm
McCaw is the best because Schalk is not playing
16 Aug 2006, 16:15 pm
ig
Pls answer me:Are you referring to me calling her an inbred? Cause i am confused.
Ek het met die inbred name begin, na ek dit eers genoem is. Reaksie word uitgelok op die site, as jy net stilbly sal almal op jou trap. Maar ek sien jou punt. Almal stry heeldag.
16 Aug 2006, 16:15 pm
200
spot on gareth, he obviously thinks luke is best, why else is he going on like this..
16 Aug 2006, 16:16 pm
And remember Watson was playing behind a **** tight five.
16 Aug 2006, 16:16 pm
LUKE for Youth League president!
16 Aug 2006, 16:16 pm
Gareth
Watson is nowhere near him and at the moment is not the best flanker in SA.
He has not shown himself to be a team player at S14.
Maybe next year he will sort this out but at the year to prove this and the limited games he has had at S14 level he has done nothing to catch JW eye.
Jake is probably gonna give watson a go after next years S14.
16 Aug 2006, 16:17 pm
ja, schalkie
16 Aug 2006, 16:17 pm
Can we have a vote on who doesn’t want to talk to me anymore?
Majority rules. I’ll go with the flow.
16 Aug 2006, 16:17 pm
BokinOzzie Luke is your father
16 Aug 2006, 16:18 pm
ig
Read 193
You see what i mean? Moet ek nou stilbly omdat sy dalk n “lady” is? Sal n “lady” so praat?Moet ek elke keer stilbly? Jammer, dis nie wie ek is nie, ek bly stil vir niemand nie.
16 Aug 2006, 16:18 pm
Dawn
I’ll talk to you and apologies for calling you an inbred.
16 Aug 2006, 16:19 pm
bok in oz
team player??!!!
what about juan smit never passing a ball??
what about w olivier never passing??
and they are in bok team?
get to the point
16 Aug 2006, 16:19 pm
apologise
16 Aug 2006, 16:19 pm
Supa
tell WP Faithful who I support because he wont believe me.
WP faith
Watson is good but at the moment I dont think he is the answer at the moment.
Will he add anything different to what Jake has at the moment?
16 Aug 2006, 16:19 pm
Dawn
16 Aug 2006, 16:20 pm
supa
that’s it my buddie, u the man!!
i have to go, chat tomorrow, but wp still best hey, u know that
16 Aug 2006, 16:21 pm
bokin ozzie – the honest answer would be no.
16 Aug 2006, 16:21 pm
bok
who u support??
and luke will add variance,flair, speed etc etc etc blah blah blah
who u support?
16 Aug 2006, 16:21 pm
Supa – ek verstaan wat jy se. I am not telling you how to behave – it was a genuine question. If you want to call each other names thats your perogative.
16 Aug 2006, 16:22 pm
right – time to go home. been a long day.
16 Aug 2006, 16:22 pm
wpfaith
Bok in oz supports the stormpies my mate…difference is, he is a honest supporter and doesnt think luke is the alfa end the omega.
Cheers
16 Aug 2006, 16:22 pm
martin
u drunk
16 Aug 2006, 16:24 pm
ig
Ek praat nie so in die publiek nie om die eenvoudige rede, mense praat nie so met my in die publiek nie. reaction is the name of the game but anyway lets leave it there.
wpfaith
You going home?
16 Aug 2006, 16:26 pm
#220 u must be joking… if you wanna call each other names go ahead? and then earlier dont call each other names? just like what u feel like at the moment.. shame, what a bit of power ( to remove posts whoo whoo) does to a poor wp supporter…
16 Aug 2006, 16:28 pm
mirrag. handsakke weer uit?
16 Aug 2006, 16:28 pm
BokinOzzie i respect your opinion.
But how is Watson not a team player?
And please don’t come with some crazy reason like, “he breaks the line to much”.
Also Watson played in most if not all the stormers games. How was he getting limited exposure in the s14?
How is he not the best flank in SA?
Anyone can say someone is not the best, but what reasons can you give that Watson is not the best.
16 Aug 2006, 16:29 pm
hey *****, ek het ‘n swaar bottle perfume in my hendbeg. ek donner jou.
16 Aug 2006, 16:29 pm
I believe Watson should definitely be in the Bok setup, but thats old news now, lets move on and rather debate why solly is really there…
16 Aug 2006, 16:30 pm
Supa
I don’t know what you said but I think a distinction needs to be made between calling someone stupid (which I admit is flamethrowing) and crude homophobic anti-female insults.
You can blast away I can take it but nothing below the belt.
Please be wary in future of sinking to my level.
16 Aug 2006, 16:30 pm
luke on his own will not win the boks any more games than a team without him. the problem is the many inform players that are overlooked by jake. why he(jake)still prefers the experienced guys when they clearly do not deliver the goods, we may never know.
16 Aug 2006, 16:31 pm
Why is Luke not ther…but the bigger Q…why is
Solly there i am sure Floors can kick his ***
16 Aug 2006, 16:34 pm
Luke is a loser he cannot even make the springbok side
16 Aug 2006, 16:36 pm
I have it on good faith that Luke is not a loser. who to believe??
16 Aug 2006, 16:37 pm
Dawn
He is referring to me calling you an inbred. I apologise again. If i had a cent for everytime someone calls someone an inbred or something alike on this thread, id be a millionare!
However, on this site, people will call you names. If i take everything personally, id be crying myself to sleep everynight. 95% of the stuff people say on this site is just remarks which is not true…i mean, how can you call someone *** or stupid if you dint know him? Most of us are just stirring or hiiting back at a comment. No one should take anything up seriously on this site. in afrikaans se ons…neem elke dingetjie met n knippie sout op!
16 Aug 2006, 16:37 pm
Jurgens
Let luke live in his world…it is time everybody els goes on with there lifes
16 Aug 2006, 16:38 pm
supa you’re an inbred. there, one million rand and 5 cents.
16 Aug 2006, 16:38 pm
What I have to put up with for the love of my game.
16 Aug 2006, 16:39 pm
in wp se hulle lek elke poepol met sy stront op, point taken and agreed supa…
16 Aug 2006, 16:39 pm
Steyn the Blue Bull
I agree the oke is not there people must accept it and move on, I am so sick and tired of hearing Luke this, Luke that
16 Aug 2006, 16:40 pm
luke out jurgens! it’s coming right for you!
16 Aug 2006, 16:40 pm
Jurgens
that makes 2 of us…….man there are players that can better then him…but they not in the news so nobody talks about them
16 Aug 2006, 16:41 pm
You see Ig
Thats what i dont understand, its fine for them calling me one, but not for me calling them?
16 Aug 2006, 16:41 pm
*****
skerp broer daai was snaaks
16 Aug 2006, 16:42 pm
soos wie steyn?
16 Aug 2006, 16:42 pm
Ek is nou sommer afgepis…
16 Aug 2006, 16:42 pm
Steyn the Blue Bull
maybe its because they are better than Luke that no one wants to talk about or mention them
16 Aug 2006, 16:43 pm
supa, that’s cos you can take it on the chin mate.
16 Aug 2006, 16:43 pm
Gareth
People on this site have been banding out stats and most if not all of them are different to each other so who can get out what is significant.
Watson not the best flank – this is open for argument and I will have my opinion and it does not necessarily say I dont respect yours but here goes.
I dont think he is the best flank to be the best in watson situation he has to be above the rest.
He would have to offer somethingdifferent, sure he has his plus’s against others like eg fetching but game after game is he consistent and is he putting the team in game breaking/try scoring/forward advantage situations.
As a package and I have only listed a few does he outright offer the better package than what is currently in the bok set-up.
Speed, fetching, defence, line breaks, attacking options from break down etc
He had to prove himself outright in S14 but stats showed that as a package he was no different than what was in Jakes team.
Watson is good please dont get me wrong but now is he offering significant options to Jake.
Team player – i had answered this in another topic. Luke tended to pick and drive to much, just one scenario, when what looked like other better attacking opportunities.
maybe it was his bad day but it did look it was his better game as he seemed prominent more so than schalk.
16 Aug 2006, 16:44 pm
jurgens, why don’t you mention them. and we’ll chat with you.
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