Smit starts at hooker
John Smit will revert to his strongest position this Saturday while the uncapped Dewald Potgieter has been named on the bench.
Smit played down the shift when probed on the matter. On a tour marred by poor scrumming and front-row injuries, the Springboks have lost Gurthro Steenkamp, Chiliboy Ralepelle, Jannie du Plessis and most recently Adriaan Strauss. Bismarck du Plessis has had a rib concern, while CJ van der Linde has just recovered from a hamstring ailment.
The string of injuries sees Smit reverting to the position where many experts, including former team-mate Os du Randt, feel he’s best.
‘It’s been awhile since I’ve played hooker – I think my last start was in the Super 14. Hopefully it’s just like riding a bicycle,’ Smit told keo.co.za.
‘It’s going to be an epic Test. They’re the Six Nations champions and we’ve enjoyed a good year, so it’s going to be tough.’
Peter de Villiers has also selected BJ Botha at tighthead and Beast Mtawarira at loosehead after this front-row combination impressed in the closing stages of the Italy Test. De Villiers, however, refused to say whether this combination would be retained in future matches.
‘We now have a lot of options and can opt for a horse for courses approach,’ the Bok coach said. ‘The front row we’ve selected is perfect for how we want to play against Ireland.’
Botha (Ulster), Van der Linde (Leinster) and Jean de Villiers (Munster) all play their club rugby in Ireland, and are included despite the policy that frowns on the selection of overseas-based players.
Peter de Villiers said this stance was relaxed given the number of injuries and the fact that the trio were playing in Ireland.
‘We will always look inside our own country first. If we can’t find someone good enough, only then will we look outside.
‘We are fortunate that Jean was here and thought it would be stupid to fly a replacement out from South Africa. He knows the system and it’s not even three months since he last played for South Africa.’
Other changes to the pack see Danie Rossouw shifted to No 8 in place of Ryan Kankowski while Schalk Burger returns from a rib injury. Bakkies Botha is still battling a back injury but is named in the starting side.
De Villiers said the change at No 8 is down to injury and not because of the physicality Rossouw can bring to the contest.
‘Kanko got a bump against Italy and we’ve decided to manage him,’ said De Villiers, even though Kankowski trained with the Boks on Thursday. ‘It’s going to be a tough Super 14 so we have to think of the player as well.’
Wynand Olivier is preferred in the centres with Jean de Villiers warming the bench. De Villiers was a late replacement for injured centre Adi Jacobs.
Springboks – 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Danie Rossouw, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 BJ Botha, 2 John Smit (c), 1 Beast Mtawarira.
Subs: 16 Bismarck du Plessis, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Dewald Potgieter, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Jean de Villiers.
By Jon Cardinelli, in Dublin
November 26th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
@grant10:
are you sure?
Grantie, in your estimation what is the difference between the LH and TH prop in terms of what they are supposed to do and how?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
@Beertjie: ya .. sorry, typo.
what you think tho?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@grant10: Grant, what is Bob’s blog called ?@Cyborg: Although I agree with you to a certain extent ( I prefer Vermeulen ), I think he had quite a good spell in the short time he was on the field against Italy.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
@dr dre: I saw 1 and 3 mixed up and Nick Koster and then i lost interest. Now it is too much trouble to go back to the previous page.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
@ratel: I agree, but he aint big, he is lean and muscular, that’s the problem, you need big, like Juan Smith big or D Vermeulen big. I really think Vermeulen deserved to be on this tour, he is a corbon copy of Juan Smith!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
@Beertjie: Nick Koster and Spies would make fantastic wings, both big lads and express pace.
Koster will play wing for Strmrs 2010 and Spies should be hurried back to wing to get in some gametime.
Spies is too dumb for 8th man and too clumsy … would be a great move.
Imagine fielding 5 loosies ?????
November 26th, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Well done DIV! Correct selections all round!
Love the team, looking forward to having Jean off the bench for the last half an hour or so! Danie to have a big game at 8. JS at home at 2.
Great side
November 26th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
@dr dre: That looks like a ‘whites only’ team boet and OMG Nick Koster are you severly mentally disabled? He has played maybe 2-3 games at wing his whole life? And you also booted two of the best wingers in rugby today for two loosies?
Sorry boet you must be making a joke.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Hey Grant…?
What’s that smell?
The sweet smell of vindication….!! Enjoy…!!
Good team! Still would’ve preferred Jean to start but I got no complaints at all…
Kudos to Peter De Villiers… YDM!!!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
all you d!ckheads dissing John Smit – go fark yourselves. John is NOT going to retire, he is going to stay until the 2011 WC and after he’s captained us to another vitory he will hang up his boots.
I can’t believe how fickle you bunch are and that the best captian in the world doesn’t command more respect from you muppits.
! and BTW – GREAT TEAM for SAT !!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
@Tacitus: Wait for it, big leagues now.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
@ufo: Its not kudos to Helium at all, from the start he could have gotten it right.
Not hard, most of the bloggers here and public would have identified the right way to go with players and selections.
PDV is allowed to make mistake after mistake … yea, he learns from them, but better not to make them in the first place.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Well u can’t get much stronger than this. This team don’t smash Ireland to smithereens then something seriously wrong in State of Denmark.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
@Tacitus: #37
We’ve seen him doing it in his previous 26 test matches. You don’t need to convince us. As long as you believe it, all is well.
What about the BB providing 5/7 back line players in the run on team? What has the world come to?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I must say well done PDV for starting with Wynand and having JDV on the bench. Rugby is a team sport and it sends the wrong signals to the squad if outside players like JDV jump straight into the starting 15.
well done PDV – good selections all round!!.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
@dr dre: I’ll rather play Hagana and JPP on the wings. It is a pitty that Mapoe did not tour. Hopefully by 2011 he played himself into the squad.
Spies is fine at 8.
A big consideration is the 8 players on the bench that they want to implement with a compulsary frontrow. This could bring players like Kuun and Ashley Johnson into play, because the can play in the frontrow and are good looseforwards. This then effectively give you six other option for the bench. Then you can pick all your loosies
November 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Lekker lekker , nou gaan sluit die jaar of op ‘n hoe noot. Go Bokke !!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
@brains_trust: 100% correct. Smit is a better scrumming hooker than Bismarck, anyway.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
i tip Olivier to play his heart out and surprise a few.
Hopefully Steyn attacks the adv line a bit more with ball in hand and he and FdP do not hoist everything straight into the air.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
Eish I like that bench…rock solid!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@Breakdown Boy: Spies was a wing and could do very well there again.
Koster is big and fast and lets watch him at wing next year.
IMO
November 26th, 2009 at 3:48 pm
@cab: on Bobs Blog…so take his word for it….he is on tour with the players…
Tightheads the anchor….most physical of the scrumming positions….needs 1 st and foremost to keep his end up….and the scrum solidity normally copmes from that spot….
Massive difference in scrum technique and strength required….Os says he wouldnt of tried 3 because he felt he wasnt strong enough.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
great side, should beat any side in the world. front row looks very solid with j s back at hooker.back line could be even better than it is but good to see some players get rewarded for having a good season. dont know much about their no 10 so hopefully we do a ciprianni on him and ruin his career while we re at it. my only worry is that the boys are tired but i think they ll be up for this one.
ps: how can the media call this test tri nation champs vs six nations champs. bit unfair i think seen as though the boks have had a bone smashing season. lets play that comp at the end of the six nations when our boys are fresh.
go bokke forever
November 26th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Its a pity Pdv hasnt shown as much continuity of selection with Kankowski as he did when Spies first came back after his ‘lung disease’.
Spies couldnt catch a cold let alone hold onto the pill for months yet he was chosen week after week and has slowly turned into the premier no 8 in SA.
Come back to SA and actually get some game time kankow, show the S15 what real eighth man play is all about.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
@Beertjie: hah .. I like it.
JPP is uninspiring and not involved enough at all. Habana makes the guy look very very ordinary.
Imagine Koster and Spies as wings though. mmmm
November 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@CharlesM: superrugby…follow links
November 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Grant10 will be surprised/happy that Smit is starting at 2.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
@dr dre: #62
Your use of that cheesy nickname for PdV says it all…
Thing is bud… that’s my comment and my opinion… and I’ll repeat it too…
Kudos to Peter De Villiers….! YDM!! You De Man!!
Doc… Springbok coaches prior to PdV had a trait of being stubborn and the more the pressure the more stubborn they became…
But you’re right… PdV has made massive mistakes…
It was a mistake to beat the Lions, and Win the 3N, and wipe the ABs 3 zip… serious mistakes that he mustn’t be allowed to get away with…
November 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
I started at hooker once.
Didn’t last long.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@brains_trust: #65
“…it sends the wrong signals to the squad if outside players like JDV jump straight into the starting 15.”
It apparently did not sent out that signal just two weeks ago.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@grant10:
ah i see, its about keeping his end up.
and this must be why Smit is NEVER EVER a TH…hmmm.
quite technical.
Anyway, bladdy strong bok side, if Ireland win here they doing bladdy well.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
@ufo: LOL….Ja…i had a massive side bet with a mate that Smit would not see out season at 3…hence my Death Row chirp earlier….if PDV didnt do the deal i was down a small fortune!!LOL
November 26th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
@brains_trust: no one is dissing Smit!
November 26th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
@ufo: I dont have a problem with your opinion at all …
All good dude. Your completely confused and delusional .. but … 100% !
November 26th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
And could you please actually make a tackle and not be bounced off Schalk.
I’ve never seen so much intent yet so little effect from one person as i did from Burger during the France test.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@grant10:
what you talkin about you said he’d be retired by now…
November 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@Dawn:
can I lure you out of retirement…???
farking smilies…
November 26th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
@nama1: who jumped straight into the test 15 on the week of the test?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@Dawn: You thought it was for weeing out of only?
November 26th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
@cab: And i stand by that assertion….the scrum always looked capable of imploding…..
But its an old debate….
November 26th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@dr dre:
cool Doc…
it’s always always good…
November 26th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
@ufo: hehe .. all good.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
@John Galt:
If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because Spies doesn’t sport a David Hasselhoff hairstyle and a Rory Kockott attitude.
Or it could be that he saw more potential in Spies than in the Hoff.
Either of those would seem like a reasonable explanation.
If you don’t buy either, go with Jake White’s view which is that Kankowski doesn’t have the upper body strength necessary for test rugby. Now you may or may not like Jake White (I don’t, particularly), but he seemed to be proven right when the French were ripping balls out of Kanko’s understrength arms at will.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:59 pm
@cab: If he had stayed at 3 i stand by that too….
And lets not rule out the possibility as yet….a super 14 to get through ….and although i wish him well….Bissy may have other ideas?
November 26th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
@grant10:
90 regso, stand by it, dont wiggle out like before when decrying Smit and then he comes back with yet another worldclass performance.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
@grant10: Thanks Grant@nama1: I think you’re wrong. 3 injured guys in the front row came back home – yet CJ did not start against France. Strauss and du Preez only started the week after that.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
After the Tri-Nations there were many on this site calling for Juan Smith’s head… I wonder how many have noticed that he is one of the key players for the Boks and that our pack has been going downhill without him…
November 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
@grant10:
How classic is this given what we both agreed on and spoke about yesterday..???
‘We now have a lot of options and can opt for a horse for courses approach,’ the Bok coach said. ‘The front row we’ve selected is perfect for how we want to play against Ireland.’
November 26th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
who knows what happens to scrum on sat, let us see, i think that greenhorn healey is pretty useful and is superb in the tightloose too.
November 26th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
@grant10: Smit must play TH in the S14. More experience and exposure.