Cheetahs flanker Heinrich Brüssow has been officially added to the Springbok squad for the home leg of the Castle Tri-Nations, having come through his comeback match for the Cheetahs unscathed.
The open-side dynamo only needed 25 minutes in the second half to convince the Bok selectors that their man is back and they wasted no time in adding Brüssow to a loose forward mix that is already missing the likes of Schalk Burger, Juan Smith and Willem Alberts.
Springbok squad:
(Provinces and Test caps in brackets)
Forwards:
Pierre Spies (Blue Bulls, 40)
Jean Deysel (Sharks, 3)
Danie Rossouw (Blue Bulls, 56)
Heinrich Brüssow Free State Cheetahs, 13)
Bakkies Botha (Blue Bulls, 72)
Victor Matfield (Blue Bulls, 105)
Gerhard Mostert (Stade Français – France, 1)
John Smit (Sharks, 104 – captain)
Bismarck du Plessis (Sharks, 36)
Tendai Mtawarira (Sharks, 26)
Jannie du Plessis (Sharks, 24)
Gurthrö Steenkamp (Blue Bulls, 31)
CJ van der Linde (Golden Lions, 71)
Backs:
Gio Aplon (Western Province, 14)
Frans Steyn (Racing Metro – France, 42)
JP Pietersen (Sharks, 36)
Bryan Habana (Western Province, 68)
Jaque Fourie (Western Province, 62)
Juan de Jongh (Western Province, 8)
Jean de Villiers (Western Province, 67)
Morné Steyn (Blue Bulls, 27)
Butch James (Golden Lions, 40)
Ruan Pienaar (Ulster – N Ireland, 49)
Fourie du Preez (Blue Bulls, 55)
Francois Hougaard (Blue Bulls, 8)
Welcome back Brussow you will make a much needed impact on the game
I hope Brussow isn’t going to be pushed to far and get injured again.
I don’t rate Brussow as highly as everyone else though – for one he won’t be the difference between winning and losing and I doubt he alone can provide that much needed spark in the Bok engine room.
Only time will tell.
his worth will be in extinguishing the opp spark at the breakdown by winning their ball
It is rather our backline that needs a spark more than our pack of forwards.
I didnt watch the WP v Cheetahs game but did Brussow have any impact? Its very hard for a player to regain the form that made him a Bok after all those injuries. He wont be the same explosive player he was. I guess time will tell if he still has it. My feeling is that another injury is around the corner as he isnt match fit.
Didn’t mccaw come back after a knee injury?
I didn’t watch the cheetahs vs wp game either,so cant comment on his performance either.
@SheldonK (Comment 5) : Yep, came on and caused all sorts of *** . Damn awful bastardo.
Sheldon the Cheetahs were losing at it was all WP till Brussow came on.
@Clayton(PJLD) (Comment 8) : @Sharksmad – The Blog’s Dudette (Comment 9) : Well if he made that kind of impact then fair call to include him as somebody needs to slow down the opposition ball as our defense is struggling at the moment!
Much greater balance to the loose trio…
Brussouw made a HUGE dif to the Cheetahs / WP game in the dying minutes…