Bok duo worry White
21 May 2007
Springboks Fourie du Preez and JP Pietersen are doubtful to start against England after suffering injuries in last week’s Super 14 final.
National coach Jake White is already without Lions pair Andre Pretorius (buttocks strain) and Jaque Fourie (groin) for the opening Test of the season. Du Preez was initially expected to sit out the final because of multiple shoulder injuries, but played against the Sharks and is paying for it this week. Pietersen injured his hand and like Du Preez will undergo further assessment in the next few days.
Apart from these potential setbacks, White was happy with the standard of fitness apparent in his charges. He also told reporters in Bloemfontein the short preparation period would not limit their chances against the Poms on Saturday.
“This is the best condition and most impressive fitness levels the players have produced since I’ve taken charge of the team [in 2004],” he said.
“Most of these players have been playing together [both at provincial and national level] for some time now, so it should not be a problem.”
116 Comments
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21 May 2007, 16:25 pm
Jake….. just don’t fark the Bokke up again…. pleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaase!
21 May 2007, 16:25 pm
more than adequate replacement in pienaar
21 May 2007, 16:27 pm
Ja ja
En wat het hy te se van Luke en Odwa en Hougie en sy nuwe keurkomitee??? Kom nou man, ons soek die storie agter die storie…
21 May 2007, 16:27 pm
Hey gbs, moet jy nie werk nie?
21 May 2007, 16:27 pm
They must just give fourie at least 3 weeks off to recover properly from his injuries. The is more than enough cover in the squad.
21 May 2007, 16:30 pm
This is the best condition and most impressive fitness levels the players have produced since I’ve taken charge of the team [in 2004],†he said.
thanks to the S 14 coaches, Dont f#$k it up now doos.
21 May 2007, 16:30 pm
Koning Paulus Minimus,
Hoe kan ek dan nou op Bloubul Maandag werk??
21 May 2007, 16:30 pm
5- agreed, no point in playing injured players in a WC year
21 May 2007, 16:30 pm
JP is getting great
21 May 2007, 16:31 pm
Is this all he said?
21 May 2007, 16:32 pm
Jy het seker die sms gekry van al die goeie goed in die lewe wat met ‘n “B” begin? hehehe
21 May 2007, 16:32 pm
Helllloooooooooo Shos,
Bly om te sien julle is veilig terug!!
Jussie, ek en my broer was spyt ons kon nie verder party Saterdagaand nie, omdat ons vroeg moes vlieg…..
….julle het seker rof aangegaan en Durban op horings geneem?
21 May 2007, 16:32 pm
i must say jake’s attitude has been very positive this year. normally he is continuously complaining about everything eg players are been played too much or out of position etc etc
21 May 2007, 16:33 pm
Come on boys. Lets put 50 past the poms!
21 May 2007, 16:33 pm
I heard something on the radio about Floors and an injury?
21 May 2007, 16:36 pm
Twig @ # 15….
Hehehehehehe Jake is the Saviour…. hehehehe… GOOD JOKE……. eishhhhh it was good!
21 May 2007, 16:36 pm
Hope JW listens to advice and adapts his game plan. 2004 good, 2005 ok, 2006 no good. 2007 ??? Hope he has soemthing up his sleave, that will take the world by surprise.
21 May 2007, 16:37 pm
hel GBS, dit het gebars op daai velde en in 80′s na die game. Ek is omtrent heel laaste van die paviljoene af.
die pad terug gister was maar moeilik, veral met die moerse winde wat heeltyd amper reg van voor gewaai het.
By al die stop plekke langs die pad was daar net bulle waar jy kyk.
as ek jy was het ek geparty en die vlug maar gemis, jy sou wel later op “standby” ‘n vlug gekry het. Glo my dit sou die moeite werd gewees het.
21 May 2007, 16:37 pm
gbs, remember that tri-nations victory? oh, and don’t forget the semblance of respect that he managed to restore to the then-laughing-stock-of-international-rugby?
we at least have a potent squad now, thanks to jake, rather than the turnstiles of a few years ago!
21 May 2007, 16:38 pm
Wooooops…. Twig’s comment 15 dissapears…. ok maar goed so, want ek sou my doodgelag het…..
21 May 2007, 16:38 pm
Sorry Ig, didn’t realise I was pushing the boundaries there.
21 May 2007, 16:41 pm
Twig,
Initially Jake the Snake was a fresh breeze…… then quickly he stagnated and turned into a not so fresh foul smelling ****……
Jake the Snake MUST Gooooooooooooooooooo!
His useless assistants MUST Fark the hell off!!
21 May 2007, 16:43 pm
No worries Twig, but it was littered with some choice words and a star replacing a letter doesn’t really change its meaning if you know what i mean.
21 May 2007, 16:43 pm
gbs, why do you think so? what exactly has he done that is so despicable?
21 May 2007, 16:46 pm
Gelukkig het ons goeie keurders
21 May 2007, 16:48 pm
groot baas,
my vriend het saterdagaand vir jake raakgeloop en ‘n bietjie “ge-chat”. soos ons het hy nie ooghare vir jake nie, maar sê na die geselsie het hy baie respek vir jake gekry en sê hy jake is eintlik ‘n moerse nice ou.
21 May 2007, 16:52 pm
We have depth, but it looks like we’re gonna be far from our best team with numbers 9,10,12 and 13 out! That’s the whole heart of our backline.
21 May 2007, 16:52 pm
Whatever our opinion of White is, lets give him the benefit of the doubt till after the WC. If he wins the WC, everyone will cry for him to stay, because we all love a winner. can anyone tell me what his win ration is at the moment?
21 May 2007, 16:55 pm
pirlet, i’m not so sure FdP, AP, JdV and JF is necessarily our best line-up, especially as a unit. The replacements are more than capable, if not superior.
21 May 2007, 16:56 pm
The thing is we have a fantastic group of players. So only a guy making bad selections and bad tactics is gonna **** it up for us. And after last year I think Jake has shown he can really **** it up spectacularly. If we had Henry or Deans coaching this side I can’t even imagine what it would be like!
If we don’t reach the final with the players we have then our WC must be considered a failure, full stop.
21 May 2007, 16:57 pm
Fourie as always going to miss some game time, either at the end of the Super 14 or at the beginning of the international season. Ligaments usually take a minimum of 6 weeks to heal properly.
All things considered the Boks have been lucky with injuries this season, probably due to the improved conditioning. Australia have been decimated, especially at forward.
The depth SA have developed over the past season is looking excellent with at least 2 players per position able to match the All Blacks. Only last year we were battling to get more than the match 22 who were up to scratch.
SA rugby is on the up, now if only we can find a way to get rid of the politicians….!
21 May 2007, 16:57 pm
#29, Well every single time that combination has played (especially the Pretorius-JDV-JF combination), we have won. I think it’s a damn good one
21 May 2007, 16:57 pm
#29, Well every single time that combination has played (especially the Pretorius-JDV-JF combination), we have won. I think it’s a damn good one
21 May 2007, 16:58 pm
as = was
21 May 2007, 16:58 pm
Cheers guys and gals talk to you tomorrow
21 May 2007, 17:00 pm
I don’t think we are going to be that bad off. I konw that Du Preez, Pretorius, De Villers and Fourie are out.
But, Ruan Pienaar was arguably the 2nd best no.9 in the S14 and also outshone Du Preez (yes I know he was carrying an injury) in the final. James, has had a good S14, and was excellent against the Poms last year – his physical approach does intimadate them. The loss will be felt in the centres, but this gives white the perfect oppurtunity to give Murray a run our or even Steyn at inside, and failing that Wynard Olivier has being getting better & better as the S14 progressed.
If I had to pick a starting backline (assuming that Du Preez & Pieterson are out), I would go for:
9. Pienaar
10. James
11. Habana
12. Olivier
13. Murray
14. Steyn
15. Monty
Bench:
Januarie
Hougaard
One of the Ndugana’s (spelt that wrong)
21 May 2007, 17:04 pm
Mmm, I’m just not so sure Pretorius will have the consistency or BMT to take us through an entire World Cup campaign.
21 May 2007, 17:10 pm
Pete, I agree with you I think Ruan Pienaar is brilliant and maybe even better than FDP, it’s about time he gets to show what he can do(can’t believe he actually didn’t get to start last year but that was a usual Jake **** up)
But James is not as good as Pretorius I’m afraid. PRetorius has been brilliant in the bok jearsey for the past 2 years except for the last 20 against England, it’s very tough to come on as a flyhalf and fit into a game which is still in the balance and also getting **** passes from your scrumhalf , putting even more pressure on you. Pretorius single handedly won a couple of games for the Lions this year, something which Butch hasn’t really done even though he was supported by a MUCH better team. Imagine if Pretorius had been throwing cut out passes to Pietersen,Murray,Barrit…Sharks would have gone on a rampage.
And for that performance in Twickenham, Butch was good but not brilliant, all he did was put a grubber through and catch a brilliant offload by JDV. I watched the game twice and people are dreaming when they think Butch was the general doing everything. But I do like Butch and he’ll be good back-up.
In the centres we’re definitely gonna lose out. Fourie is one of the best centres in the world, Murray looks like a great player but once again people forget about Fourie just because he’s playing with the Lions, a team that’s loosing…
And Olivier replacing Jean makes us gain more on defense but lose out on attack. I really think Steyn should be tried at 12. He has all the skills to be a world class 12!
21 May 2007, 17:11 pm
#37, BMT? How about a kick at the 79th minute against the AB’s in rustenburg or a match winning penalty against the force in the super 14. Or his performances in the 3N and the 2nd game against England. If there is one player who does have BMT in the Bok side it’s AP
21 May 2007, 17:29 pm
Pirlet, yeah I do prefer watching Pretoors play. Only problem is (& this is also the problem with Butch) that he is constantly getting injured which does’nt help for consistency.
21 May 2007, 17:32 pm
from rugby365 Luke’s secret diary
Saturday, May 19: Bulls win! Not a great final, but an amazing finish thanks to Bryan’s try. Felt a strange sense of kinship with him as he scored at the end. Also felt sorry for the Sharks, especially as they’re my old team. Had a call from Butana Khompela, the head of Parliament’s sports committee (I think). Congratulated me on the Sharks win, said he thought I served particularly well, offered me Government funding if I needed new clubs, and wished me a season full of wickets, particularly if we were playing Arsenal, who he isn’t very fond of. Strange phone call.
21 May 2007, 18:01 pm
#38 Pirlet BEL
I disagree comepletely about James vs Pretorius. You are very welcome to keep Pretorius up in JHB and we’ll keep James down in Durban. I’m not saying Pretorius is a bad player, he has his strong points, just like James has his.
IMO, Pretorius:
- Very accurate long passes
- Excellent runner into space
- Excellent kicking game
- Nifty tricks occasionally
- Can defend, but will never knock a big guy back
- Suspect at truly deceiving the opposition
- Liable to make a bad decision (less and less)
- Sometimes too rigid with his distribution, unable to adapt to changing spaces
James:
- Excellent vision in all aspects
- In the above I include tactical kicking and seeing the spaces for his outside men. When and where to adapt his passes.
- Excellent deception
- Gets his outside men into space better than any other SA flyhalf
- Awesome defender
- Not great footwork
- Not the quickest
For the type of game I enjoy, I’ll take James every time. I know I’ll be in the minority in SA though, as most supporters prefer a player who can run himself. That’s not what I need from a flyhalf. I need awareness, thinking, deception and James has all of them. I’d love to hear first hand how players enjoy playing outside James.
For my money:
9) Fourie du Preez
10) Butch James
12) Jean de Villiers
Could be a special combination.
21 May 2007, 18:03 pm
GBS, normally you a good ouk, really. Hope your work record is as good as Jakes. Ever been voted and awarded best in world for it?
Jake started badly last year, still the only coach that beat the ABs though. Great 2 years before that. I think any team in the world would have struggled to replace key players like Schalk and Bakkies, not to mention the rest.
Please guys lets get behind our team and our coach, otherwise Alistair C is going to take us to the WC. He has the correct shade and 3 yrs int exp. And we have Stopiele pulling the wires.
Sometimes the saying be careful what you wish for is more than just a cliche, so careful about wishing Jake gone. Remember the years before 2004, the potential for the years post 2007 is much worse given the administrative management of our rugby.
21 May 2007, 18:09 pm
#1 thats one of those stupid attention comments.
21 May 2007, 18:28 pm
#42, Butch is a good player and I do like the way he plays close to the advantage line , pops passes and his style of defense. He does lack a bit of speed but that’s not such a big problem.
I just think PRetorius offers more, I really think he’s a special player. I’m just praying he stays injury free because against NZ I don’t think we can win without him and his ability to get the backline going(he really has the ability to SPEED things up), kick tactically into corners..
Most of my mates here in France,they watch 3nations and rate him as one of the best no10s in the world. And they say that when he doesn’t play our backline looks aweful. From the matches of the past 2 years I would have to agree.
Butch will be very good back up but he has to stay injury free too.
I’m just praying they do or else SA can kiss the WC goodbye without a quality no 10.
21 May 2007, 18:37 pm
#45, Cool, we can agree to disagree. I thought we had problems with a stagnant backline quite a lot in the last year or two and the game which impressed me most was with Butch at 10 and de Villiers at 12.
Pity that Butch won’t be playing with de Villiers soon but I guess we’ll see what happens soon enough.
21 May 2007, 18:49 pm
number15, I used to be AP all the way, but lately he has lost something for me, he’s still our best tactical kicker, and quickest passer. He just doesnt attempt the breaks he used to, and he doesnt vary his pass enough. He still has the speed to cause havock in defenses, he just doesnt seem to have the confidence to use it anymore, so he’s easier to read.
Butch is probably a better option right now, but he also lacks pace.
Personally I’d take a chance a use Steyn at 10, I think it’s been his best position when played there, and letting him grow into it could be the best thing. He could be a great if given a long run there and offers more than both the others, especially long term. I know it’s a risk, he still makes mistakes, but the potential for greatness is amazing, and thats more than can be said for all our other options.
21 May 2007, 19:00 pm
Mistral, I’m uncertain about Steyn. If he turns out to be a great, I’ll be delighted, but I think you’ll agree that we’ve seen “the next big thing” way too many times in South Africa. I get very cautious whenever I see hype around a player early on.
He’s certainly made an impact so far, but has also shown some naive play at times.
21 May 2007, 19:02 pm
Butch or steyn hasnt won a currie cup yet not even to talk about the most treasured cup SUPER14
They did nothing to impress me in that game. Hougard seemed a much more composed Flyhalf and after all how many times has he won the curriecup and a super14 against butch,petoors or steyn? HAHAHA
21 May 2007, 19:05 pm
I agree, I just think sometimes we are too cautious and we coach all flair right out of our players. In spite of his tendency to overdo it a little, this time we may really have found ‘the next big thing’. Once in a while one does come around, we dont want to miss out.
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