An injury-ravaged Springbok team leave South Africa on Thursday night for the southern hemisphere’s Tri-Nations competition with Australia and New Zealand with speculation rife their coach will head to England at the completion of the matches in September.
Jake White is believed to be on the shortlist for the position of director of rugby with the Rugby Football Union and following the decision by South Africa’s rugby bosses this week not to extend White’s contract till 2009 he may well consider the overseas option later in the year.
White’s contract with the South African Rugby Union ends after next year’s World Cup in France.
And compounding the coaching issue for the team is the fact a number of the country’s first choice players will have to stay at home for the matches against Australia and New Zealand.
Flanker Schalk Burger has undergone a neck operation and will only play again next year, while first choice lock Bakkies Botha and playmaker Jean de Villiers were this week ruled out of the trip because of calf and rib injuries respectively.
Flyhalf Andre Pretorius was also ruled out of the tour after aggravating a groin strain in the latter stages of the Super 14 provincial competition.
While there are quality replacements among the Springbok forwards, White’s team is thin among the backs.
De Villiers’ absence leaves a gaping hole at inside centre, while flyhalf Jaco van der Westhuyzen, who failed to get his backs moving swiftly in the Tests against Scotland and France, will be the man White will have to rely on in the coming weeks.
The tour may be final opportunity for Van der Westhuyzen, who will come up against Stephen Larkham and Daniel Carter, to show he’s up to the level that will be required if the Boks are to win the World Cup next year.
His back-up will be the Cheetahs’ Meyer Bosman, who played in two Tests on last year’s end of season tour.
White will also be hoping his tight-five, in the absence of Botha, will still be able to assert their dominance over their opponents.
Much will depend of the fitness of veteran Os du Randt, who has battled niggles all year, while captain John Smit is apparently also not 100% fit at this stage.
Without Burger, the Boks will have to do some serious thinking about their loose-forward trio, especially as they come up against the likes of George Smith and Richie McCaw in the next month.
Sharks flanker Solly Tyibilika is the only outright fetcher in the side, but he has fallen out of favour with White in recent times, so it may be left to the 100kg-plus men like Joe van Niekerk, Jacques Cronje and Juan Smith to do the hard work at the breakdowns.
White, however, also has the option of rookie Pierre Spies, a 20-year-old who has just come off playing at the U-21 World Championships.
He is a powerfully-built flanker but has also run out on the wing for the Bulls at Super 14 level.
The three other new caps in the side, hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle — the Boks’ U-21 captain — and wingers JP Pietersen and Akona Ndungane are also sure to get game-time at some stage on tour.
The Boks are certainly not the settled squad White would have wanted to take to Australasia, while the team are also under pressure following mediocre performances in the second Test to Scotland in Cape Town and the defeat to France just two weeks ago.
It is an expanded Tri-Nations competition, with the Boks playing Australia twice Down Under and the All Blacks once in New Zealand.
If the Boks come away with just one victory against teams who have impressed against England and Ireland in recent weeks White will be a very happy man. New Zealand and Australia kick off the competition in Christchurch this weekend. – AFP
