Andy Colquhoun RUGBY
Picking a Springbok squad for the coming tests against England and Canada has probably been as difficult as shooting fish in a barrel.
Once Nick Mallett and his panel of Francois Davids and Wynand Claassen had swept aside the belly-up Sharks and Bulls bobbing about uselessly on the surface, they’d have found perhaps 40 Stormers and Cats vying for the 28 places for June’s three Tests.
It’s not been a good year for surf or turf. The Sharks and Bulls are likely to appear as endangered species when Mallett unveils his squad sometime next week. And as first-class rugby goes into hibernation until mid-July when the Bankfin Currie Cup cranks into gear, it’s hard to see a way back for some of the names that have dominated Springbok teamsheets since 1995.
Of the Springboks’ 30-strong World Cup squad, Natalians Adrian Garvey, Mark Andrews, Chris Rossouw and Pieter Muller may already have a sickly feeling in the pit of their stomachs about the coming announcement.
And new Bulls Anton Leonard, Naka Drotske and Os du Randt as well as established Pretorian Ruben Kruger are probably not counting the days in excitement. If you add in Kaya Malotana, Wayne Julies, Henry Honiball, Fritz van Heerden and Bob Skinstad it means that 13 of the party that flew to Scotland with such high hopes last September may find themselves locked out of the sweet shop next week.
Others who might normally expect to walk into the squad such as Stefan Terblanche (Sharks), Krynauw Otto and Jannie de Beer (Bulls) and Brendan Venter, who has limited game time with the Stormers, may also be looking ahead to the announcement with more than usual anxiety.
Nevertheless there remains one final weekend and to convenor of selectors Davids falls the grisly task of intruding into the Bulls’ private grief at Loftus on Friday night where they take on the Hurricanes. On Saturday Mallett will be in Bloemfontein for the Cats game against the Chiefs while Claassen will witness the listless Sharks’ attempt to take a chunk out of the Stormers’ in Durban.
The naming of the squad has been delayed to allow the Cats and Stormers an unfettered build-up should the coloured balls fall in place and they win the equivalent of the Lotto to reach the semi- finals.
However, if the Hurricanes and Highlanders (who play the Waratahs in Sydney) both win their matches on Friday, it will mean Saturday’s games featuring our semi-final wannabes will only be relevant in Springbok terms.
“Everybody has got a chance that’s why the three of us are going to be at the final round of games,” Davids told the Mail & Guardian this week.
“It’s not a question of getting rid of all the old players. We are being guided by Super 12 form.”
The most devilish task for the selectors will have been locating a fish in that barrel with a large number 10 on its back. Fly-half remains the most vexed position in South African rugby, which is why one hesitates to discard Jannie de Beer too hastily. He has had an indifferent Super 12 and, by the strict criteria of form, would not be there.
In his defence he has surely not been served by having had four different scrum- half partners and the added uncertainty of not knowing when the Bulls might get the ball back should he take the risk and move it on to his outside centre.
On form the only fly-half candidates are Louis Koen and Braam van Straaten, and the latter will win the nod for his defensive resilience and proving he is more than a bash-up merchant. The problem is that while all the contenders have shown patches of form, the permanence of class is not so easy to pin on any of them.
Van Straaten had four tests in 1999 and his Western Province team-mate Charl Marais could add to the two he won last year in one of the other vexed positions at hooker. He is a powerful scrummager, an intelligent player with good hands and an excellent team influence, as you would expect from a man who captained Grey College.
Inside centre is the final problem area and here Mallett might make his boldest stroke by promoting the Stormers’ De Wet Barry straight into Springbok colours.
He has had an impressive Super 12 season although Japie Mulder has again performed strongly for the Cats. What might count most in Barry’s favour is that if the dangerous Robbie Fleck edges out Grant Esterhuizen at outside centre and Van Straaten is the fly-half then the most sensible thing may be to keep the midfield trio together.
Elsewhere there is plenty of strength. The Cats and Stormers lock pairings could both walk into the Test side with distinction while there is never a shortage of loose forwards or props.
Thinus Delport, Johan Ackermann, Willie Meyer and Robbie Kempson can all reasonably expect to be back in the Springbok squad while Hendrik Gerber may join Esterhuizen and Barry as new boys on the block. Whatever, at least Mallett & Co have been given some fish to pop at over the past month.
Possible squad: Fullbacks: Percy Montgomery, Gaffie du Toit. Utility back: Thinus Delport. Wings: Breyton Paulse, Pieter Rossouw, Chester Williams. Centres: Deon Kayser, Robbie Fleck, Grant Esterhuizen, De Wet Barry. Fly-halves: Jannie de Beer, Braam van Straaten. Scrum- halves: Joost van der Westhuizen, Werner Swanepoel. Eighthman: Andre Vos. Flankers: Rassie Erasmus, Andre Venter, Corne Krige, Hendrik Gerber. Locks: Johan Ackermann, Krynauw Otto, Selborne Boome, Hottie Louw. Props: Cobus Visagie, Willie Meyer, Robbie Kempson. Hookers: Charl Marais, John Smit.