Bok fullback starts from scratch
15 Jul 2010
While Conrad Jantjes is relishing a return to the playing field, it will be some time before he returns to the Springbok fold.
On 2 May 2009, a horrific clash with Chiefs flank Liam Messam ended in tragedy for Jantjes. The Bok fullback had featured impressively on the 2008 tour to the United Kingdom and was expected to play a part in the British & Irish Lions series, but a broken leg shattered those ambitions and sidelined him for the next 14 months.
Jantjes returned to competitive rugby on 2 July in Western Province’s only warm-up game against the Griffons. A week later, he featured in the Cape side’s victory over the Cheetahs and displayed a fearless approach that suggested he was well and truly over the injury.
Speaking to keo.co.za, Jantjes said that while his confidence is returning, the past year has been a trying one from both a physical and psychological perspective. Fans may have seen that performance against the Cheetahs as the start of a comeback, but in reality, it’s taken Jantjes 14 months of toil to reach the point where he could run again.
‘It was really frustrating in the beginning of my rehab, I had to learn to crawl before I could walk,’ he recalls. ‘It was as much a mental battle as a physical one, and I’m still fighting that battle now. I never used to watch much rugby on TV because it frustrated me. I hungered to get back onto the field.’
As Jantjes suggests, the rehabilitation process isn’t yet over. Two steel pins are inserted into his leg, and his return to rugby is in fact two months ahead of schedule. He will use this year’s Currie Cup to build himself up, and this means a return to Test rugby may have to wait until 2011.
‘Everybody asks me if it’s in the back of my mind, but the truth is I can’t set myself those kinds of goals just yet. I’m grateful to be back, and people probably don’t appreciate what a major thing it is for me to be playing rugby again.
‘My confidence is returning with every game, and I’m sure my match sharpness and fitness will improve the more that I play. I didn’t really get many chances against the Griffons, but had some good touches against the Cheetahs that did my confidence good. You can’t let yourself worry about the injury, but it helps to get an early touch and settle the nerves.’
Jantjes added that the early form of this new-look WP backline has helped him readjust to the pace and intensity of the Currie Cup. Dewaldt Duvenage is the only player that started for the Stormers in the Super 14 with Peter Grant playing his rugby in Japan, Joe Pietersen defecting to France, and the rest of the backline joining the Boks’ Tri-Nations squad.
‘It’s easier for me coming back into this kind of environment. In the Super 14, the Stormers had a really strong defence and that’s been carried through to the Currie Cup. I’ve been really pleased with the way the midfield [Paul Bosch and Tim Whitehead] has come along. If you don’t have to do much tackling as a fullback, then you know your midfield is doing well.
‘Fabian Juries, Frikkie Welsh and myself have also worked well together at the back, so it’s a good start.’
Jantjes maintains that the Currie Cup will be used ‘as part of his rehabilitation’, but there is still an outside chance that he will tour with the Boks in November. Zane Kirchner hasn’t let the Boks down this season, but hasn’t really offered them anything special, and with Frans Steyn’s ongoing omission South Africa are short on fullback options a year out from the World Cup.
A strong showing in the domestic competition could provide Janjtes with a springboard to Test rugby, which in turn should provide him with a chance to prove his worth before the global tournament. For the moment, that remains the best case scenario, as Jantjes is rightly focusing on regaining his fitness one match at a time.
By Jon Cardinelli
175 Comments
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
15 Jul 2010, 11:26 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-150: Wait I’m not finished. I assume you learned your rugby in an armchair in the Eastern Cape dressed in a pale blue safari suit with a blue miners helmet with horns on it??
Ok now I’m finished.
15 Jul 2010, 11:28 am
@GI POT(GI POT)-146: Haha no problems mate! It seems we all suffer a bit!
I for one am not going to blame the poor performance of individuals on that of others not doing their job. Let me give you my opinion.
Bakkies farked up big time.
When he went of it gave NZ the momentum they needed to dominate us up front which resulted in a poor performance by the tight five except for Guthro and Victor(in the loose his lineout work was not up to scratch). Schalk played his normal game but Flo and Spies did not pitch for the game.
If you go look at the stats on ruggastats you can see that their tight 5 dominated the breakdown together with Richie.
We would never have won in a million years even if FDP played.
The fact is no one played good so to single out certain players is not fair.
I think Pdiv misses half the game because from high up in the box he cant see past his Snor.
15 Jul 2010, 11:37 am
@Falken(Falken)-152: Good post. I posted in the week before the game that the match would turn on two or three crucial incidents, either way. Bakkies was incident no 1, and we struggled to recover from that. Before that All Black surge we actually looked in control of the game. How quickly things changed. And yes, FLO had a bad game too. I’m more inclined to forgive him though because he’s comparitively new to Springbok rugby. Pierre needs to fron t up not just when things are going his way, but also when things aren’t.
15 Jul 2010, 11:44 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-153:
What will happen if you lose on Saturday, there has been so much hype about this team it will be very hard mentally. If they lose on Sat and don’t get a bonus pt the Tri Nations is probably gone.
15 Jul 2010, 11:49 am
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-154: I think you’re right.
15 Jul 2010, 11:55 am
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-153: Yes the Spies situation is a bit more debatable!
I think the fact that he is so huge and athletic everyone expects him to dominate all areas of the game and when he does not live up to expectation everyone calls for his head.
To me he is not such a big problem in the team. The combinations and selections that Pdiv makes is the problem.
15 Jul 2010, 11:56 am
Here is my simple view on the Bok nr8 and the breakdown (from second phase onwards, the play from set piece is quite different):
If you are going to play Bismarck at hooker, who has appropriate breakdown skills, you can get away with playing Spies at 8. Spies does add value in the collisions if players are held in the tackle, but not much when a ruck forms.
If you are going to play Smit at hooker, with less breakdown skills, you need an additional loose forward with breakdown skills since Smit will rather force the collsion to ground instead of contesting the static ball on the deck. In this case, it makes more sense to employ an additional deck player at nr8.
15 Jul 2010, 12:17 pm
157
willievz(willievz) Makes sense. On the front foot he is lethal but one of the only few chinks he has is fetching! He does fetch too upright. We were really dominating until bakkies lost it.157
15 Jul 2010, 12:27 pm
@KevinRack(KevinRack)-158: Of course, the overall objective of ruck play is not to win back the ball, but to slow the offensive phase play of the opposition and forcing them into mistakes.
Breakdown skills are of course not limited to ‘fetching’.
Playing to the ball is but one aspect of the breakdown. You need cleaners at the rucks and you need to counter prospective attacking points around the ruck.
The trick is to balance your resources and their skills sets at a specific ruck, and to organise a mix of players with similar skills sets around an area where you envision the following point of breakdown. A chessgame if you like.
15 Jul 2010, 12:32 pm
@willievz(willievz)-159: Good points all. I like how you get into the actual technical aspects of the position and the merits and disadvantages of the various players’ skill sets. As you say it’s about how it all fits together that counts. Changes in one area will affect how others are allowed to play.
When you take all of this into account, it really is a fine balancing act that has to be gotten right, week after week, against varied opposrition with their own styles of play and strengths and weaknesses, and without taking into account forced changes through injury and loss of form..
Not sure I’d want the job quite frankly. Much safer to be an armchair critic.
15 Jul 2010, 12:34 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-154:
boks will lose on saturday.
but loosing 2 from 6 is not quite kissing the cup goodbye.
watching such a talent pool fluff it is hard. been watching my whole life how AB’s hurt us cause they are better but cant say the same is true now. Boks on Paper no1. bloody come to the party already
15 Jul 2010, 12:45 pm
@mainland(mainland)-161:
Your right, its not quite kissing it goodbye but a bonus point win on Saturday for the Ab’s would be extremely hard to come back from as I don’t see the Bokke scoring 4 tries against NZ in SA this year. The Bokke on paper and on the paddock were far better than NZ mid last year but since the end of year slam and our opening tests against the NH the gap has closed. If we win again on Saturday NZ will justifiably be the number 1 side in the world, do you agree?
15 Jul 2010, 13:03 pm
@NZINCHINA(NZINCHINA)-162:
If you guys win with 4 tries and 15 points again then nobody will dispute your no1 ranking.
If you beat us by only 3 point margin you still have a fight on your hands
15 Jul 2010, 13:39 pm
Conrad Jantjes …blah, blah, blah. Back to his best…blah, blah, blah. How is it that we have all these useless never-beens, and the media keeps on blowing them up? Get real, there are many other more usefull players to give some airtime to.
15 Jul 2010, 13:41 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-147:
I think that is the fundamental problem with Tac’s argument. He is constantly defending Spies by implying that he shouldn’t have to do certain things so that he can concentrate on other things (his strengths).
When we then analyse a match where Spies has underperformed the blame then goes to others because they apparently didn’t do their jobs effectively which was why Spies couldn’t do his. They’re all part of the same forward pack! It’s almost so theoretical that it’s unrealistic.
I don’t think in today’s International game, with such tight winning/losing margins that any player can get away with that type of leeway.
15 Jul 2010, 13:50 pm
@Yetirat(Yetirat)-165: Yeah, everyone must tackle, evryone must clear out a ruck if they are there and they have the opportunity, all must turn the ball over if allowed. Jaques Fourie is a good example of a player who is not scared to put pressure on the tackled player to turn the ball over, and WO is a good example of a guy who uses his bulk to hit the odd ruck.
Some bloggers here are so blinded by their love of certain players that they think that the whole team playes just for them
No one is that good, especially Pierre.
15 Jul 2010, 14:42 pm
spies
played ****
on
saturday
but
when compared
to
the rest
of the
front eight
never mind
their position
he was
better than
du plessis
smit
flo
and
at least
as good as
vic
guthro
burger
lets forget
bakkies
15 Jul 2010, 15:11 pm
@Porra the Fat and Clever Speedster(Porra)-167: you really should change your nic to porra the skinny poster…..
15 Jul 2010, 15:14 pm
@Porra the Fat and Clever Speedster(Porra)-167:
as a self
proclaimed fat
porra you
too may
feel at
home in
the ‘FAT BOYS
Club’….
also Known
as the
bokke !
15 Jul 2010, 15:16 pm
@grant10(grant10)-169: No porra’s in the side are there? Don’t they all play soccer?? Like the reason that they lost is because everytime they get a corner they open up a cafe??
15 Jul 2010, 15:23 pm
@stormersboy(stormersboy)-170: LOL…..
15 Jul 2010, 15:37 pm
@Porra the Fat and Clever Speedster(Porra)-167:
Your brain
is as vrot
as your veggies !!!!
15 Jul 2010, 16:15 pm
Good to see CJ back.
15 Jul 2010, 16:33 pm
Butch james was never a test match winner, in fact…for most of his career he was more of a liability the way refs kept a sharp eye on his tackling technique.
I fancy the Boks this weekend.
They’ll be far more physical and positive. They will want to put down a marker after last weekend. Wellington has also been a far happier hunting ground for s14 sa teams than auckland ever was. I definately believe this plays a role much the same as Ellis Park plays it’s role for the Boks regardless of how kak the Lions are.
Januarie holds the key for me. We’ll win our fair share this weekend at the breakdown but what will he do with it? Can he pick our big ball carriers running into space much the same as Fourie always appears to or will it all be to mundane shovelling it off to his right shoulder or waiting until Morne has to drop deep to receive it.
Will our set piece get sorted, another absolutely non-negotiable point.
Our top 2 sides played very positive rugby in the S14 this past season if a coaching setup wants to utilize superrugby form there is little point deviating to far from what was succesful for them just 2 months ago.
Stay and play positive, this doesn’t mean be expansive willy nilly but look to score tries via your backs when the team get’s good front foot ball.
This has always worried the Kiwis, they don’t like SA teams that get physical upfront but play positive at the back.
Madibas birthday on sunday isn’t it?
just in case the boys need a top of inspiration.
15 Jul 2010, 17:03 pm
@Ig(Ig)-173: Good to see you back as well Ig. Keeping a low profile?
Pages: « 1 2 3 [4] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.