beef
RUGBY: Steve Morris
THERE is something about a Springbok side without Kobus Wiese and Hennie le Roux that brings thoughts of a hamburger without the full beefiness of the patty, sans the lip- smacking enjoyment of the relish, immediately to mind.
This is not to say that coach Carel du Plessis has done a bad job in picking his debut side for the Newlands Test against Tonga that marks the start of an extremely crowded season of internationals. And, for the most part, he has stuck to his principles in picking the players he perceives to have been the form men of the past few months.
Andre Joubert and James Small might skim the very edges of this definition, but then both are players of undeniable world class.
Joubert, for as long as he wants to make the green and gold No 15 jersey his own, must come automatically to the mind of any selector. His recent injury and nascent return to the game surely gave rise to some second thoughts on his current abilities, but much of this doubt was instantly erased in the stirring second half he produced in the semi-final of the Super 12, as Natal fought back against impossible odds to run Auckland a lot closer than the eventual champions would have believed possible.
Small is a different consideration. Fiery to the point of instant inferno, he has languished for a good part of the season on the Western Province bench. He remains an enigma. A loner in a sport which demands an adherence to the team ethic, Small is capable of some of the most superb running defence, the most sublime finishing, and yet still manages to embroil himself in the type of petulant exchanges that marked his shoving match with British Lion John Bentley that belies every bit of his street-smart demeanour that expects you don’t get cross, you get even.
But to return to the coach’s decision to leave both Wiese and Le Roux languishing not just on the reserve bench, but out of the international mix altogether.
To take the case of Wiese first, if we are to take the simile of America’s favourite snack that bit further and starting with the beef, the selectors have ignored the willingness to come back – more than likely prematurely – from injury of one of the most honest forwards in the business.
It smacks very much of the pressure that was put on Francois Pienaar last winter to play himself through some severe physical damage. Ultimately, the result has been the same … Test oblivion.
At 33, Wiese may not be in the long-term plans of coach Du Plessis with the spectre of a World Cup championship defence looming less than two years away. But then there is the small matter of a three-Test series against the Lions, and the bruising round of tri-nations Tests against Australia and New Zealand which follow to consider. The thought of a Springbok scrum giving ground against any of these teams is too horrific to contemplate, yet it is something that looms very large and very real in the present composition of the Springbok second row.
Du Plessis has plumped for Krynauw Otto and Fritz van Heerden as locks against Tonga. It is an interesting choice. Otto is also just back from injury and has never been known – at international level, at least – to own the resilience that a fisting from a Robin Brooke or a Warwick Waugh demands of a Test second row. In this regard, Braam Els of Free State must count himself extremely unlucky.
Van Heerden is different. A retreaded flanker, who has – like Small – played all his rugby this season outside Super 12, he is an untried quantity at this level of lock forward play, despite his proven abilities as a lineout jumper. It reads like a very thin meat patty indeed, and one can only be thankful that the ever- dependable Hannes Strydom is there as a back-up when the grilling starts, and that Mark Andrews waits impatiently in the wings.
Of Le Roux’s exclusion for Edrich Lubbe of Griquas, the same doubts hold sway. The overriding feeling is that Louis Luyt typification of the quicksilver three- quarter as “a quitter” has gained far more credence than such a gutter utterance should ever have been allowed.
Le Roux remains one of the world’s premier broken-field runners and has forged a world class partnership in the centre with Japie Mulder that has allowed both men to feed off each other’s strengths and blossom into a truly feared and respected combination.
It is ironic that while the Lions are looking for combinations, we are busy dismantling them. Equally interesting that league returnee and Springbok centre veteran Pieter Muller has come back into the frame against the Lions.
Muller represents one of the inconsistencies in the way Du Plessis has arrived at his line-up. In his insistence on form men, he has picked a load of players from the minor provinces and those who have not played Super 12, and yet he is insistent that leaving English emigrees Francois Pienaar and Joel Stransky out of the reckoning was because they were not playing a high enough level of rugby.
The coach’s emphasis on form does not hold water in Stransky’s case. Honiball has had a string of uncertain and erratic performances and surely cannot have been a sure choice on his current playing portfolio.
Du Plessis has also looked toward the 1999 World Cup in Wales and chosen younger players like Percy Montgomery from Western Province, and yet stayed with the old brigade in many instances.
None of it really adds up, no matter how sincerely Du Plessis may espouse his cause. The sum of the parts will probably prove better than the whole – Springbok rugby tends to do that – but the recipe is a somewhat bland and tasteless one in the anticipation.
* Test team against Tonga
Andre Joubert, James Small, Japie Mulder, Edrich Lubbe, Andre Anyman, Henry Honiball, Joost van der Westhuizen, Gary Teichmann (captain), Ruben Kruger, Andre Venter, Krynauw Otto, Fritz van Heerden, Adrian Garvey, Naka Drotske, Os du Randt.
Reserves: Russel Bennett, Boeta Wessels, Werner Swanepoel, Hannes Strydom, James Dalton, Dawie Theron.
Lions series squad members: Marius Hurter, Mark Andrews, Johan Erasmus, Justin Swart, Percy Montgomery, Pieter Muller.