Andy Capostagno
rugby
The countdown to the first Test match of the season has begun. On Sunday Harry Viljoen will trim his Plettenberg Bay squad of 32 down to 26 and three days later four more players will fall away to leave us with the 22 who will line up against France at Ellis Park on June 16.
In days gone by the team was all we cared about. Who was in, who was out? In recent years, however, the squad has replaced the team and has become subservient to the game plan. We are less concerned with whom, these days, than how.
Viljoen tried several game plans on the tour to Argentina and Europe last year, without ever suggesting he truly knew which way he wanted to go. The same message came through when the training squad was announced.
Craig Davidson was out because he didn’t play Harry’s game; Dean Hall was in because you can’t go into a Test match without at least one big wing these days. Viljoen holds these views to be self-evident facts, whereas they are, of course, nothing but opinions. And opinions are like belly buttons; everyone’s got one.
And so the arguments over combinations begin. Who should lock the scrum with Mark Andrews? Who plays in the centre and who at fullback?
The role of selectors is to agonise over each and every position, but some names they should be able to take for granted. If the halfback combination is not Joost van der Westhuizen and Butch James then something has gone horribly wrong. The only other back that has a God-given right to play is Breyton Paulse.
In the pack the only position that should be up for grabs in the starting line up is at loose-head prop where Ollie le Roux and Robbie Kempson will battle it out. John Smit will hook, Willie Meyer will play tight-head, the Sharks pair of Mark Andrews and Albert van den Berg must lock and the Cats back row of Rassie Erasmus, Andre Venter and Andre Vos finish the mix.
Corne Krige is a better ball player than Venter and his time will indisputably come, but right now he must be on the bench. Whatever team Viljoen picks will displease some, but with the resources at his command he should start the campaign with a win against a below-strength French side.
ENDS