Griquas flank Davon Raubenheimer could be one of the surprise inclusions in the Springbok squad for the end of year tour.
Adnaan Mohamed, Die Son
The enlarged 37-man Bok touring group will be announced by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers after the Currie Cup final between the Blue Bulls and Cheetahs on Saturday evening in Pretoria.
Raubenheimer was seen at the UK visa office in Cape Town on Monday with a SA rugby official who admitted that Raubenheimer will be one of the new faces when the squad is announced on Saturday.
The Springboks will play three Tests against France, Italy and Ireland, while a Springbok XV will play two matches against English club sides Leicester and Saracens.
The 24-year-old Raubenheimer, who stands 1.95?m tall and tips the scale at 99kg, represented South Africa in 2005 at Under-21 level.
Last year he played for the Emerging Boks at the IRB Nations Cup. This year he faced the British and Irish Lions while playing for the Royal XV before representing Griquas in the Currie Cup.
Raubenheimer was born in Knysna and played for the SWD Eagles for three years under coach Phil Pretorius. The former Eagles coach described Raubenheimer as a very talented player who will acquit himself well when he is selected for the Boks.
“It does not come as a surprise to me because I rate him very highly. I always told him that he will become a Springbok one day,” Pretorius said proudly.
“Davon has a great work ethic and is one of the fittest and strongest loose forwards that I have coached thus far in my career.
“One of his strong points is his ability to jump at both the front and at the back of the lineout. At the Eagles we used him to great effect at number two and at number seven in the lineout.
“He is a strong ball carrier, has the ability to run through tackles and is a deadly defender. But most of all he is great team man and is one of the nicest chaps that you can find.”
According to Pretorius he advised Raubenheimer to go to Griquas this year with the view to playing Super 14 rugby for the Cheetahs.
“Unfortunately he did not get many opportunities but I am just glad that someone has eventually recognised his talents,” added Pretorius.
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Shame – that would be nice for griquas
@GI Ice (Bulletproof) (Comment 1) : Not really,if he looks half decent a bigger union will take him
Where is Pretorius now, he got fired by SWD, if my memory serves me right, was a very innovative coach, not a bad guy to have in the backup staff!!
@provincejoulekkading (Comment 2) :
I just meant for them to say…we have (had) one Bok in the team…all the guys that’s worth anything get taken away..
@GI Ice (Bulletproof) (Comment 4) : I know, I was just being difficult
@provincejoulekkading (Comment 5) :
Tsk! 😛
i thought kitshoff actually looked a better player than this guy, i thought of all griquas players he would have made the cut, and i imagine possible bolters from the kwasse could have been sarel pretorious or jacques lombard but i did not expect this guy
@war1 (Comment 7) : oh shit – I have been getting them confused all along! Kitshoff is the guy that should make it, not Raubenheimer! Raubenheimer is a blindside anyway…
@robdylan (Comment 8) : 😆 😆
@Whindy (Comment 3) : Pretorius left the SWD to look for greener pastures, not to sure where he is now though. 😕
@Whindy (Comment 3) : Heineke Meyer used to be his assistant at SWD, although the talk was that Meyer did most of the coaching while working under Pretorius.
@mbayshark (Comment 11) : Ja I gather he is a bit of a thinker in terms of the game itself rather than a hands on coach as well as a good motivator, has a docterate of some kind.