Springbok coach Peter de Villiers looks set to detonate a bombshell by omitting the experienced lineout kingpin Victor Matfield from his team for the first test against Wales in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
Gavin Rich writes on Superrugby that also likely to watch the kick-off to De Villiers’s first test in charge from the bench is South Africa’s most capped player, Percy Montgomery, while Pierre Spies has won the initial battle for the No 8 jersey ahead of Ryan Kankowski.
De Villiers put his shadow team through two hours of structure at Stellenbosch’s Danie Craven Stadium on Thursday, and he did not deviate once from the 15 that started the session, a strong indication that this will be the team that starts against the Welsh.
The only absentee from training was lock Bakkies Botha, who has returned home until Sunday to attend to a family matter. When he returns to the squad when the group gathers in Bloemfontein on Sunday, it will be to be united with Stormers lock Andries Bekker for the first time. Bekker looks set to be rewarded for his excellent Super 14 form by starting ahead of Matfield.
In Botha’s absence, Danie Rossouw slotted in at lock during the training session.
While Matfield and Montgomery were not part of the first choice unit, another overseas-based Bok, Butch James, ran the entire session at flyhalf. Skipper and hooker John Smit completed the overseas contingent.
Francois Steyn and Jean de Villiers continued to run together in the midfield, though it was hard to tell which would run at inside centre and which would wear the No 13 jersey in Bloemfontein as they interchanged quite a bit.
If the shadow team is an accurate reflection of the combination that will start the first test, and with the Boks not due for another onfield training session before Monday it is reasonable to assume that what we saw in Stellenbosch is what the Welsh will see in nine days’ time, then De Villiers’s team will represent a significant improvement on the transformation front.
With Brian Mujati and Gurthro Steenkamp expected to start at prop, there will be six players of colour in the team. When the Boks won the World Cup in Paris last October, the two wingers, Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen, were the only players of colour.
Talking of Pietersen, he and Schalk Brits continued to train with the squad on Thursday even though neither of them were in the 30-man squad named a day earlier.
Schalk Burger was also in attendance although his injured knee is still heavily strapped and he is not expected to train until after the second Welsh test.
Probable Springbok team: Conrad Jantjes, Tonderai Chavhanga, Francois Steyn, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Luke Watson, Andries Bekker, Bakkies Botha, Brian Mujati, John Smit (captain), Gurthro Steenkamp
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No goal-kicker in the squad is a big mistake… If I’m not mistaken Butch wasn’t first choice kicker for Bath… and we all know how irratic Steyn is…
@bryce_in_oz (Comment 1) :
Yeah I think so as well.
Butch was the 2nd choice kicker I believe, Barkley was 1st choice.
Ashfak wrote in this mornings Cape Times that it seems like Percy and Vic would start and that Pierre has won the battle with Joe on the bench. Not sure how he summised this tho.
But for him to say that some Stormers players aren’t starting first might mean its true.
what’s the point of bringing Vic back then benching him?
@robdylan (Comment 4) :
There was an article a few days ago that PdV had given the Overseas players until Wed (I think) to be here.
Vic arrived late and i will not be surprised if he is being benched becasue of that.
Butch got a Economy ticket to SA to be here.
@KSA Shark © (Comment 5) : An ECONOMY ticket… heaven forbid! 😉
@KSA Shark © (Comment 2) : What do you mean, no goal kicker? Jean Div will take the duties 😆
Check the 2nd last paragraph:
http://www.sarugby.com/news/News/article/sid=9122.html
@molly (Comment 6) :
He was given a day off or something when he got here because of the discomfort. 😆
@molly (Comment 7) : 😆
@molly (Comment 7) :
Lol… well spotted…
Isn’t Smit looking fit in that pic… is that the Tokoloshe next to him… or the Bok coach sitting down…lol!
I’m not happy at all about the fact that Butch had to fly with the peasants in cattle class. I’m considering writing a strong worded letter to SARU. 👿
@ra-cheltjie de’ be-er (Comment 11) :
I can’t understand why Jantjies doesn’t practice, surely he has a better chance than JdV
Wuoldn’t be a bad team, but…Frans @ 13 not good 😡
wonder which Dick suggested Frans for the outside centre position 🙄
Mujati???????? Well I suppose the Boks will never get a right shoulder. He is by far the worst of the tightheads in camp. Both BJ and CJ are MUCH better tightheads. Terrible selection, should be with the emerging boks.
To see a Bok tighthead with his head shoved up his arse for 80 minutes will be a very sad sight indeed. Completely disgusted with that selection, completely! 👿 👿 👿 👿 👿
Steyn the only Shark in the starting lineup????? 😯 😯 😯
@Dancing Bear (Comment 18) : yeah – haven’t you heard? The Stormers are just better
I really hope the US Eagles learn to play better rugby, because it is going to be hard to support this Boks team. BONEHEADED SELECTIONS!!!!! What the hell does Kanko have to do????? He was by far the best 8 in the Super 14.
Oh and for all you Butch doubters, he kicked over 80% when he kicked for Bath this season. Also remember that the last time he was first Choice kicker for the Sharks he kicked almost 80% as well. He is a very good goal kicker.
I have never been provincially biased, but this team is ridiculous, and believe me if half the Welsh Squad were not absent, we would lose these two tests with this team.
Oh [email protected] it, starting like this in the morning just sucks. Lucky the weather is good, perhaps it will help me get over this disgust. I’m going out!
@Dancing Bear (Comment 23) : deep breaths 😉
@robdylan (Comment 24) :
I don’t want to breathe deeply. I want to be angry!!! I can’t believe others on this site are not as outraged as I am.
DB,
Who would be in your team?
I would include Kanko, Beast and BJ in that starting lineup. Otherwise, I don’t mind too much
I would start with Kankowski ahead of Steyn 😆
@Cru-El (Comment 26) :
BJ at tighthead and Heinke starting at loosehead, but he is not even good enough to make the extended squad. Matfield at lock, but I suppose he needs his wrist slapped for coming to camp late. Kanko at 8 and Baywatch at openside, once again not good enough to make the squad. The backline is not bad as it is. All I can say is that the Lions seem to be treated even worse than the Sharks.
Beast on the bench to come in for Heinke in the second half and run the opposition off their feet.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 25) : I think picking Mujati over BJ is utter crap. There’s just no way you can justify that. Also, Gurthro has always been crap. He used to be pretty dynamic when he played for Free State. The last two years, he has been injured so much that I just don’t know how they can justify picking him anymore.
As for Spies, well, Kanko kicked his ass in the Super 14.
But this is just the opinion of one Cape Journo. How surprised are you that he picks 18 Stormers in the team?
@Dancing Bear (Comment 25) : Dancing bear the only reason why I’m outraged is because of them using our Sharks as understudies. I would rather then leave them in the Sharks team and be sure of some game time. As I’m not a Bok Supporter I don’t care what Pdv does as long as he does not mess with the Sharks players 👿 👿 😡
@robdylan (Comment 31) :
Gurthro, as I have said many times before, is a very very poor scrummager at loosehead. The only reason he is even able to play loosehead is because he is a very strong oke. Beast has become a much better scrummager, and he is so much better than Gurthro around the field you can’t even compare the two. Heinke is by far the best scrumming loosehead in SA, but offers less than Beast in other facets of play.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 33) : DB, I don’t think you can really justify picking a loosehead who’s as anonymous in all-round play as Heinke is. I mean, the game has moved on a fair bit, right? Best to have the best of both worlds, a la Beastie or Carstens.
@Reds (Comment 32) :
Bringing Murray into the camp for one day….WHY??? Then JP not selected but not allowed to go back to the Sharks. The only somewhat logical thing was to let Muller rest, he needs to recover from injury, otherwise he would be a better choice than Bakkies the way he played this season.
@robdylan (Comment 34) :
I don’t think Heinke is anonymous in all around play, just not as good as Beast or Carstens, but he is still better in all around play than Gurthro.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 29) : Bekker over Vic is just nuts. If they are going to drop Vic, replace him with a guy who adds more grunt, not less. I just don’t get this Pierre Spies hype either. I think he’s a bit of a flat track bully, to be honest. Luke is, well… I don’t know. The dude has pissed me off a lot less this season cos he’s kept his mouth shut and just played rugger. Fact is, the Baywatch’s and Botes’s of this world just seem destined never to be recognised.
I think that PdV has been talking to Owen Nkumane who said that a team doesn’t need a loosehead if they have a good tighthead and hooker, the team can carry a loosehead. But why anyone in the world thinks that Mujati is a good tighthead prop is completely beyond me.
@robdylan (Comment 37) :
Watson’s good rugby was played at 8. He was utter crap after Schalk got hurt. He will hurt this team at 6.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 35) : Did Bakkies play this season? Was not aware of it…
only read about all his of the field antics. 
The Sharks played so crap.. They could not even end the S14 in the bottom half of the log… Ghee why did they end 3rd.. Just think how all their players would have been selected for the starting line up if they ended in the bottom half 
😈
Back to be serious.. I agree with everything you say..very unhappy with this set up around the Shark players. But
@Dancing Bear (Comment 35) : Bakkies who? Yeah, but you can’t say anything about die überblauslotpaarführers without being accused of not knowing what you’re talking about 😉
@Reds (Comment 40) :
I know I know, you’re not a Boks supporter. With crap like this, I don’t know where I stand.
@Reds (Comment 40) : we need to bear in mind, though, that you are coming at it from a vastly different perspective, Reds…
@robdylan (Comment 41) :
I can say anything I want because I don’t know what I am talking about anyway. 😆
@Dancing Bear (Comment 42) : DB – wait until the actual team is announced before you get too upset.
After Beast shoved Mujati’s head up his arse for 80 minutes, he must be disappointed that Mujati gets to start and he does not.
I don’t know if you all saw Boots and All, but when they were talking about Mujati, they said he was good in open play, but the only clip they could show was him making a high tackle and being penalized.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 44) : pretty much the premise behind me starting this blog, now that you mention it 😉
@robdylan (Comment 45) : Think it is going to be your All blacks team against my All blacks team this tri-nation. 😈
@robdylan (Comment 45) :
OK, but if this is the starting team, then what do I do?
@Dancing Bear (Comment 46) : there was also that cool clip of him using Schalk’s “use your eyes” gesture at Willie Roos…
@Dancing Bear (Comment 49) : then you’ll be perfectly entitled to rant… in fact, I’ll do a fair bit of ranting myself.
@Reds (Comment 48) : don’t go there, I beg you.
Well at least the Santa Maria Cup Women’s Match Racing Championships is in town this week. I am going out on the water today to watch pretty girls sail! WOOOOHOOOOO
@Dancing Bear (Comment 53) : Pretty girls from all over the world. But no South African team….. 👿
@robdylan (Comment 52) : Oops sorry won’t go there again 😳
Just remember what PdV said, “Mujati had a great Super 14 and BJ and CJ are not bad.” Geeeeee who do you think he is going to start.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 56) :
you not going to rest untill you know who is going to play and who not, are you ❓ 
The best farking scrumming tighthead in the world is just not bad in PdV’s eyes. 😈
@Dancing Bear (Comment 56) : yeah…, a pretty baffling comment. But he’s not got the gift of the gab, that’s for sure.
I just don’t want to crucify the guy until we’ve at least given him 5 tests or so to settle and show us what he can do.
@Reds (Comment 57) :
Reds, I imagine as soon as I see all the pretty sailing girls in bikinis (because the weather is so nice) I won’t be thinking much about Bok rugby. 😎
@robdylan (Comment 59) : Who gets five tests? PdV or Mujati????
@Dancing Bear (Comment 58) : but it’s not just him who doesn’t rate BJ. Remember all the shit that started after BJ played a few test last year? Everyone writing him off as not test quality, etc…
Goodbye ppl!!1 Time for me to go ❗ ❗ enjoy your evening because I know I defintely will. Chow
@Dancing Bear (Comment 61) : I meant PDV… but if he does honestly believe that Mujati is his best option and wants to stick with him, that’s fine… cos de Villiers is the guy who will live or die by the results.
I mean, Jake’s first choice tight head was Eddie Andrews for the first 18 months he was in charge, FFS!
@Reds (Comment 63) : cheers Redsie. Have a good one.
@robdylan (Comment 62) : Anybody who knows anything about front row play (and remember I spent all my rugby in the front row) knows that BJ is the best scrummaging tighthead in SA, there is no question. Just like everyone who knows anything about front row play knows that Gurthro is a worthless scrummager, but hey, according to Owen Nkumane, we can carry a loosehead. I can also tell you that Brits, Kuun and Burden are terrible scrummaging hookers. Liebenberg is the only other hooker that can scrum nearly as well as John or Bissie. Bissie really needs to spend more time on his throws, and as I have said three years ago, he needs to have his hearing checked because he never seems to be able to hear or understand the lineout calls.
Cheers Reds.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 66) : now you’re taking me back… I DO remember when you said Bis might be a bit deaf…
DB, you reckon Burden will get better with experience?
I assume it is Bissie’s hearing because he has a B-Comm degree so can’t be particularly stupid. A friend of mine who went to Grey College with the DuPlessis boys said that Jannie was a bookworm, a real student and a bit of a geek, while Bissie was the partier, far more interested in sports than studies.
Sorry, but I counted 7 players of colour: Conrad Jantjes, Tonderai Chavhanga, Bryan Habana, Ricky Januarie, Luke Watson, Brian Mujati, Gurthro Steenkamp
@robdylan (Comment 69) :
Burden is a very strong oke, and a fantastic athlete. I played hooker all my life, so I don’t know how hard it is to come in at his age and learn the intricacies. I can tell you that since I had so much more experience in the front row when I played in the US, I was able to dominate most other hookers, no matter how big, strong or good an athlete they were. Some of the tricks of the trade came naturally to me by the time I was in my 20s.
One problem is that scrummaging techniques for a short hooker is very different than a tall hooker like Bissie and John. So Burden really has to learn to scrum differently to them, is there someone that can help him? I would think that John Allen would be the perfect guy to help him become a good scrummaging hooker, since he was not a particularly tall hooker. I preferred playing against tall hookers, I felt I could pop them whenever I wanted with low body position and good drive.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 70) : explains how Jannie ended up being a Doctor while still being a pro rugby player. That takes brains and dedication, all right
@Superwors (Comment 71) : Luke ain’t so black when he drops his shorts, is what I’ve heard. Explains the chip on his shoulder.
@robdylan (Comment 74) : 😆 😆 😆 😆 😆
@Dancing Bear (Comment 72) : did you read my article on specialist mentoring that I did a few months ago?
@robdylan (Comment 74) :
😯 😆
Excellent!
@robdylan (Comment 76) : Yes I did, and I remember you mentioning John Allen. Unfortunately as good as John Smit is, and even Bissie, I’m afraid that they will not be able to teach much to Burden due to different bodies. With a short tighthead like BJ, and Burden, that front row has potential for some realy damage in the scrums, especially against taller front rows. I loved playing against tall tightheads as both a hooker and prop.
I was lucky to play representative rugby here in the US with a very tall, big and strong loosehead, and a tighthead that was about my height, was the most effective front row I have ever played in. With a combined effort from me and the tighthead, we were able to pop the opposing hooker most of the time. And once that hooker pops, the scrum will go backward at a rate.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 78) : I don’t think BJ will play for us again, dude…
@robdylan (Comment 80) : I know Rob…I know. 🙁
@Dancing Bear (Comment 79) : funny, though… I remember Murph giving a very animated presentation to a few of us in a bar one night about why he felt tall hookers and short props were such a difficult combination to scrum against. Reckoned it was the combo of tall john and shortass BJ that worked so well for the Sharks
Bullet Dalton could also teach Burden a thing or two about hooking. As long as he doesn’t teach him how to lose his cool. 😆
@robdylan (Comment 82) : I don’t suppose he is really wrong, my preference has always been a short hooker and tighthead and tall loosehead. I can show you monday why that is so effective. Anyway, I am off, going to look at pretty girls sailing.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 81) : it’s sad, isn’t it? But that little dude’s value on the European market is just so sky high that there’s no way the Sharks could realistically keep him forever. He’s still young, though, so he could well be back for a swansong.
@robdylan (Comment 82) : Besides….Gambrinus is probably a better hooker than Murph. hehehehehehe 😉
Did Murph use Gambrinus as one of his props in that demonstration? 😆
@Dancing Bear (Comment 83) : wouldn’t be surprised if Dalton and Jenneker are genetic clones 😉
@robdylan (Comment 88) : Well certainly attitudenal (not a word I know) clones. 😆
@Dancing Bear (Comment 87) : I think he tried using DavidS, then gave up immediately afterwards!
I look forward to comparing hookers with you on Monday 😉
@robdylan (Comment 90) : DavidS wouldn’t know which side of the scrum to play on. He has never understood the difference between loosehead and tighthead.
I also need to leave. Have to go pick up my brither-in-law from some place in Surrey
Cheers Rob, see you Monday. Give me a phone call when you get into town on MOnday.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 93) : will do
I just cant understand how anyone could rate Mujati higher than BJ – unless they are from the Cape of course.
I really hope PDV can get past his WP past – he needs to pick wisely if he wants to not fall short of Jake the White’s mark.
@Big Fish (Comment 95) : hola cuz
@Big Fish (Comment 95) :
That could actually be a valid point. Was the lack of WP boys in the boks squad due to Jake NOT being a WP boy?
Hola Roberto!
KSA – look at the pattern of past WP-related coaches – always the same. I’m sure that the Pissy One will laugh it off, but the numbers speak for themselves – 10 WP players???
@Big Fish (Comment 98) :
Besides John and Butchie, there are 7 WP starters, 4 Bulls, 1 Shark and 1 Cheetah. Now explain to me how that represents Super 14 form? I’m afraid that it is time to start to call PdV’s honesty into question, let alone his ties to WP.
I really can’t see what the big fuss is about regarding the amount of WP players.
@Dancing Bear (Comment 99) : You can’t be serious. Take of your Shark tinted glasses for sec and let’s look at the ‘probable’ team as above.
Jantjes – regarded by most (including foreign press) as the best fullback in the S14.
Chav – Before his injury on top form.
Jean De Villiers – No question.
Januarie – Didn’t some NZ paper pick him as their no.9 in the team of the tournament. But Fourie DuP will propably be first choice once he’s back.
Watson – Only keep the seat warm for Schalk.
Bekker also played some outstanding rugby. Matfield the best though.
Mujati – Front row I don’t know much about. But will concede there is probably a few guys better than him.
What about Spies. Kanko was the best no.8 from all sides, not just SA.
But I suppose that doesn’t fit with the WP conspiracy.
So of the WP seven, only real question marks are Watson & Mujati.
Please add a smiley to al my posts above. 😀 😀 reading back over it seems a bit aggressive. 😳
Add a wink in comment 101 too.
Leicester seemed dead & buried at half time, but are back to within 7 with conversion to come.
Dancing Bear ain’t gonna like the team as leaked by Keo… Jacobs the bolter at 13 in place of Steyn. Otherwise, it’s the same lineup as this one