Nokwe’s new lease on life
The Cheetahs have supplied professional lifelines to many a Bolander in recent years. Can Jongi Nokwe follow in the footsteps of Marius Joubert and revive his career in Bloemfontein?
Joubert, who won the Currie Cup with Free State in 2007, is currently enjoying the form of his life at Clermont in France. His time with the Cheetahs certainly rejuvenated a flagging career, as Joubert had struggled to win regular starts for the Boks and Stormers teams in 2006.
Nokwe may not have been a Tri-Nations winner in 2004, but his form that year forced White to pick him for the Grand Slam tour. Nokwe never won a cap, but he was touted as a Bok for the future.
Three years on and Nokwe has suffered disappointment at the Stormers, rejection at the Lions and more exile in Boland. His mentor Hawies Fourie departed for Bloemfontein in mid-2007, but the former Boland coach never forgot about Nokwe, luring the winger north by the close of the year.
“I’m thrilled to get another chance in the Super 14, and I can’t wait to play my first game,” Nokwe told keo.co.za. “It’s also great to be part of this Cheetahs team. Things have changed in the past few years and they now play the ball wide a lot more, which is great news for me.”
Nokwe is at this stage not guaranteed a starting spot. Gavin Passens and Eddie Fredericks both enjoyed a stellar season with Free State in 2007 and are the front-runners to start against the Lions on 16 February.
“I will be playing for the second side [Cheetahs B] in Friday’s triangular tournament,” said Nokwe. “The competition will be healthy for my game and I look forward to going up against Eddie when we play the A side.”
Fourie told this website on Monday the purpose of this triangular was to assess the form of the top players and gauge the depth in each position. A strong performance by Nokwe could see him facing the Sharks in the big warm-up on 1 February, a virtual stepping stone to the Super 14 run-on side.
“We’ve been working very hard with Jongi trying to get him more involved and make the most of his great pace,” Fourie said. “He can be devastating in broken play.”
Cheetahs A - Hennie Daniller; Eddie Fredericks, JW Jonker, Herkie Kruger, Gavin Passens; Conrad Barnard, Noel Oelschig; Duanne Vermeulen, Juan Smith, Heinrich Brussouw, Barend Pieterse, Rory Duncan, Kobus Calldo, Adriaan Strauss, Wiaan du Preez.
Cheetahs B - Herman Pretorius; Howard Noble, Lafras Uys, Hendrik Meyer, Jongi Nokwe; Jacques-Louis Potgieter, Sarel Pretorius; Frans Viljoen, Darron Nell, Wayne van Heerden, David de Villiers, Francois van der Merwe, Bees Roux, Jaco du Toit, Regard Dreyer.
By Jon Cardinelli
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:07 am
I would love to see him at full flight, but sadly I think that he is also injury prone
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:55 am
I’m hoping the kid comes good, plenty of speed and talent there, maybe at the Cheetahs he may just get the breaks he needs, but I too have reservations about his metabolism and his defensive ability, and to stand up to the tackle.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:30 am
#2 “kid”??
how old is this “kid”?
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:33 am
but you are right about his natural qualities Master Skop
I doubt though, he has the rugby smarts for S14 level though.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 am
Nokwe’s the pin-up boy of all quota players.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:44 am
#5
No that title belongs to Owen Nkumane-world class hooker played in 1 test
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:58 am
Nokwe was borne 30 December 1981. With his last birthday he was 26 years. That leaves him with another 4 to 5 years of rugby.
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:07 am
g13g, around 26,27 i think but ‘kid’ in terms of game time
January 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 am
#6
#8 the “kid” must still be in development then
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:30 am
i wonder how much money sa rugby has spent on sephaka and tyibilika in developement ?
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:48 am
Anothe Vrystaat thread, the world is becoming a better place.
Nokwe is excellent on attack, but needs much more game time. I think that he is a lot like JP Pietersen that way, the more he plays the better he is.
January 23rd, 2008 at 7:50 am
The difference here is that Joubert had a career to revive.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:02 am
peterson can tackle and is half descent in the air. nokwe needs to develope his defense in the air.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:06 am
Stormers604, and to do that he needs gametime.
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hope for his sake there is a half decent backline around him to do that.
Loosehead exciting times bro……2 threads in two days……happy days he he he he he
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:18 am
Ja Kwagga, now I know how Tacitus feels whenever someone mentions Pierre Spies or Liefling Hougaard. All warm and fuzzy.:lol:
January 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am
Agree with you Nokwe though. Great prospect but he will have to start to deliver on all the talent everybody has been raving about.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:04 am
I hope he does well at the Cheetahs. I really like this guy. Scored some of the best tries in the CC a couple of seasons ago. When he and Benjamin were the two Boland wings, they made a lethal combination.
January 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
Benjamin is a different player at the Lions to what he was at the Stormers. Lets hope the same for Nokwe.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:10 pm
FS need pace in the back now that Burger has left them. One of the most entertaining tries I have seen scored was when Benjamin handed Burger off 3 times.Hope Nokwe defends better than Burger.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:18 pm
Imagine Pieter Rossouw playing in the same team as Philip Burger and Gerhard Mostert from the Lions. They could open a fast food joint – burger met slap chips en mostert.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Katman, that was good
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:24 pm
Nice katman, baie oorspronklik !
PLAASVERVANGERS: Hans van Dyk, Heinrich Stride, Jandr̩ Blom, Tobie Botes, Joel Iggi. РSpelers wat weens beserings nie oorweeg is nie, is: Alwyn Hollenbach, Bevin Fortuin, Meyer Bosman, Tewis de Bruyn, Hendro Scholtz, CJ van der Linde, Phillip Lemmer, Richardt Strauss en Ronnie Uys.
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Van waar oorsee is Joel Iggi ? Watse posisie speel hy, want ek sien in Volksblad hy het by die Cheetahs aangesluit !
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:36 pm
#20 lion4ever,
Yes but I am willing to bet that Burger scored more tries than Benjamin. Burger was there to score tries, we forgive him the embarrising blunder. lol
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:47 pm
G13G 4, I cannot believe a Bulls Supporter is gonna talk about “smarts”. Like the “Smarties” rolling around in JP Nel’s head. *****.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 pm
#26 you forget, JP actually got selected and played on a regularly basis.
January 23rd, 2008 at 1:32 pm
The Cheetahs A side looks ok. I personally worry about the following positions:
Flyhalf- Conrad Barnard – OMG – HEEELP !
Centers – creative boys, but both quite small, and will be tested on defense
Fullback – Daniller needs lots of coaching on his kicking game
In an ideal world we will have Meyer Bosman at center, an accomplished flyhalf. Not sure who though. Maybe Carlos Spencer is looking
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
JL1
Your comments ate always just so TYPICAL..cause no amount of inequietude though.Sad
Just notice how every1 enjoys to call this grown man a “kid”…Next will be boy,BAAS John and the like..
Go Mad/Iron Mike!!!!!!
January 23rd, 2008 at 4:06 pm
are
January 23rd, 2008 at 6:31 pm
#29 Mshiniwami, I am stumped. Your knowledge of the queen’s language is impressive!! But please tell me wtf is inequietude.
I found – quietude
• noun a state of calmness and quiet.
maybe you should stick to the English as spoken in as you call it “the beautifull new SA”. that way we will actually understand your post
January 24th, 2008 at 10:44 am
my bad,spelling mistake Cheetah,was half on my out the office when i posted which is why its riddled with spelling mistakes.
The word is inquietude-a stae of mental/physical uneasiness of some sort.
There you go..
January 24th, 2008 at 10:46 am
a state….eish