Springbokke EYT

[PaarlBok]

Springbok sqaud:

Springbok touring squad 2009
(Test caps in brackets)

Forwards (20)

John Smit – Sharks, Captain (90)
Victor Matfield - Vodacom Blue Bulls, Vice-Captain (89)
Andries Bekker - Vodacom Western Province (18)
Bakkies Botha - Vodacom Blue Bulls (63)
Heinrich Brüssow - Vodacom Cheetahs (10)
Schalk Burger – Vodacom Western Province (53)
Bismarck du Plessis - Natal Sharks (30)
Jannie du Plessis - Natal Sharks (12)
+ Alistair Hargreaves - Natal Sharks (-)
+ Ashley Johnson - Vodacom Cheetahs (-)
Ryan Kankowski - Natal Sharks (10)
+ Bandise Maku - Vodacom Blue Bulls (-)
Tendai Mtawarira - Natal Sharks (19)
+ Dewald Potgieter - Vodacom Blue Bulls (-)
Chiliboy Ralepelle - Vodacom Blue Bulls (8)
+ Davon Raubenheimer – GWK Griquas (-)
Danie Rossouw - Vodacom Blue Bulls (43)
Pierre Spies - Vodacom Blue Bulls (28)
Gurthro Steenkamp - Vodacom Blue Bulls (22)
* Heinke van der Merwe - Xerox Lions (1)

Backs (17)

+Heini Adams – Vodacom Blue Bulls (-)
* Meyer Bosman - Vodacom Cheetahs (3)
+ Juan de Jongh - Vodacom Western Province (-)
Fourie du Preez - Vodacom Blue Bulls (52)
Jaque Fourie - Xerox Lions (51)
Bryan Habana - Vodacom Blue Bulls (54)
+ Francois Hougaard - Vodacom Blue Bulls (-)
Adi Jacobs - Natal Sharks (28)
* Zane Kirchner - Vodacom Blue Bulls (1)
Odwa Ndungane - Natal Sharks (6)
* Jongi Nokwe - Vodacom Cheetahs (4)
Wynand Olivier - Vodacom Blue Bulls (24)
Ruan Pienaar - Natal Sharks (35)
JP Pietersen - Natal Sharks (30)
* Earl Rose - Xerox Lions (-)
Morne Steyn - Vodacom Blue Bulls (9)
+ Riaan Viljoen – GWK Griquas (-)

Itinerary

Nov 6 vs Leicester at Welford Road @ 19h45 (SA 21h45)
Nov 13 TEST vs France at Municipal Stadium, Toulouse @ 20h45 (SA 21h45)
Nov 17 vs Saracens at Wembley Stadium @ 19h45 (SA 21h45)
Nov 21 TEST vs Italy at Stadio Friuli, Udine @ 15h00 (SA 16h00)
Nov 28 TEST vs Ireland at Croke Park, Dublin @ 14h30 (SA 16h30)

The squad will depart in two. Match 22 vs Leicester will depart first while the French XV will stay and prepare in SA later.

The Leicester 22:
Rose,Odwa, de Jongh, Meisiekind, Nokwe, Pienaar, Adams, Kankowski, Potgieter, Raubenheimer, Bekker, Pakslae, Jannie Doep, Chilliboy, Guthro
Replacements
Maku, Heinke, Hargreaves, Johnson, Hougaard, Bosman, Viljoen

French Test
Kirschner, JP, Mossie, AD, Habana, M Steyn, FdP, Spies, Schalk, Brussouw, Bakkies, Matfield, Smit, Bismarch, Beast

 

[Scarfman]

37 in the squad. That's closer to the mark.

 

[Moses]

How come Jongi Nokwe didn't play for the Cheetahs in the CC final yet made the EOYT?

 

[Blue]

How come Jongi Nokwe didn't play for the Cheetahs in the CC final yet made the EOYT?

He is a coaches favorite and I think Mpo who played so well for the Cheetahs a year picked up an injury in the final.

 

[PaarlBok]

Yep Mapoe did injured himself, Januarie cant tour because he have a drunken driving court case to attend.

Think there are plenty players that did not made the cut and maybe better then the ones in the dirt tracker side. Thought Grant, Joe Pietersen , Wikus Blaauw & Francois Louw should have been there but then I also feel happy for Bosman, Viljoen & Heinke to be in there. Thought Heinke was still injured but great to see the strongman back. So its neither here nor there but a healthy state to have this amount of up and coming players to pick from.

Myself think the biggest challenge on tour for the Bokke will be the French test. Not that I dont rate the Irish , just think if we can get past the French one we will built momentum for that last big one. We havent win for ages against the Hane and lost last time against the Iere, so I am pretty sure the Bokke will be hungry to set that records straight.

 

[rustycruiser]

Has Heinrich Brussow been dropped from the starting test team?

As PB alluded to, the squad has been divided into two parts. The Dirt Tracker team that has a match on Friday versus Leicester is going ahead. The Test starting XV is staying in South Africa until mid next week. PdV announced the 22 players who have left and will be playing in the midweek match (see below).

And that is where the fun begins. Brussow is the only player in the team who was a starting player throughout the Tri Nations. The loose forwards that stayed behind with the "Test XV" are Spies, Burger, and Kankowski. Has Brussow been dropped to the bench for the France test? Is PdV high/retarded/brain dead etc etc etc? I for one am interested in hearing why Heinrich is playing. He is probably the Bok that has played the most rugby this year, so some rest would have been a good idea. Unless the logic is to expose him to NH conditions and referees? Exscept St Dickenson is the man in the middle this Friday!

Springbok XV - 15 Earl Rose, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Juan de Jongh, 2 Wynand Olivier, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 9 Heini Adams, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (c), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Davon Raubenheimer, 20 Francois Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.

 

[rustycruiser]

Spies gone, Deysel in. Spies had surgery on a finger broken in practice this Monday.

So what now? Is Deysel going to fly out to join the Dirt Trackers? Or stay behind as 15th man fill out the training numbers. And what is the Test lineup now? I would hope 6- Brussow 7- Burger 8- Kankow. But who the hell knows with PdV in charge.

 

[PaarlBok]

Maybe they wanted to try a Burger, Spies, Kankowski combo but now with Spies gone they cant. I dunno, look like Snor have a problem with WP these days because I would have picked Francois Louw anyday ahead of Deysel. Francois performed pretty well in 6 & 7 roles all year for the Stormers & WP. Anyway like I said you can pick loosies from all the main provinces with ease for that dirt tracker side. Think Louw and a guy like Stegman (he was my MOTM for the Brutes) will do any international side proud.

Look like the Leicester still can play them in the test side with good performance. Muir will coach them.

Snor wil 'n haas uit die hoed trek.

 

[PaarlBok]

Springbok XV - 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Heinrich Brüssow

Think this will be a good combo, watch Johnson plays him into the test team pretty soon. We need two Paarl Gim boys in that trio!

 

[Ash]

If Brussouw has been dropped, that's almost farcical in my book...Brussouw played damn well in the CC final too.

 

[Lee Grant]

Springbok XV - 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Dewald Potgieter, 6 Heinrich Brüssow

Think this will be a good combo, watch Johnson plays him into the test team pretty soon. We need two Paarl Gim boys in that trio!

I rate all 3 of those guys and two of them are fetchers. South Africa has seen the light.

I thought that JLP was a possibility for the EOYT as I thought he launched the Cheetahs back line pretty well in the Currie Cup this year.

 

[PaarlBok]

JL played pretty good rugby this year. Hope he'll keep on improving now going to the Bulls. Think we'll see more of him in the 12 role. The Bulls have so many 10s now, Francis moved to the Lions and they still have Brummer who is also pretty good.

The problem with 10 is that Snor/Muir wants Pienaar to play that position. Add flippen Rose and this is it, now he picked Bosman and he can also play 10. Feel sorry for Grant tho.

 

[BillyWebb]

Geez... what a typically Saffer selection.. :nta:

The tried and tested incumbents mixed in with some woefully biased / politically motivated / at least bloody-fortunate selections. Which of course also means that a lot of players not selected can count themselves damn unlucky.

I just don't get the Rose thing.
He was crap in the S14. Worse in the CC. Dropped from his provincial side. But yet again he gets picked.

And probably the 2 top form hookers in the local comp, Tiaan Liebenberg and Adriaan Strauss get ignored in favour of the 2nd and 3rd choice Bulls hookers. I'd be a little bitter if I were in their shoes....

 

[PaarlBok]

Revised Springbok team: 1 Gurthro Steenkamp, 2 Chiliboy Ralepelle (Captain), 3
Jannie du Plessis, 4 Danie Rossouw, 5 Andries Bekker, 6 Dewald Potgieter, 7 Davon
Raubenheimer, 8 Ashley Johnson, 9 Heini Adams, 10 Ruan Pienaar, 11 Jongi Nokwe, 12
Wynand Olivier, 13 Juan de Jongh, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 15 Earl Rose. Reserves: 16
Bandise Maku, 17 Heinke van der Merwe, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20
Francois Hougaard, 21 Meyer Bosman, 22 Riaan Viljoen.

Brüssow will now join the group of 15 players that will travel to France next Tuesday.

 

[BillyWebb]

I wonder if that means Ruan is not going to be in the test 22 against France?!

 

[PaarlBok]

the 7 reserves will be pick from the Leicester 22. Surely Ruaan will be there. Will be foolish not to pick a player that can cover 9,10 & 15. Thats what make Johnson so a attractive proposition, ever saw in your life a nr8 that can pack down in the middle of the scrum?

 

[James Buchanan]

the 7 reserves will be pick from the Leicester 22. Surely Ruaan will be there. Will be foolish not to pick a player that can cover 9,10 & 15. Thats what make Johnson so a attractive proposition, ever saw in your life a nr8 that can pack down in the middle of the scrum?

Pretty sure Tim Gavin could do it.

I had to do a little searching online but this article (which I don't claim is particularly authoritative) suggests he did. http://www.rotorua.com.au/rotorua-news/1990/8/13/typhoon-tuynman-seeks-ally-in-gavin/

 

[Cutter]

Tim Gavin could, and did, definitely play lock. PB means that Johnson can also play hooker which I agree is very unusual.

 

[James Buchanan]

Oh! In that case I agree, it is very unusual.

What sort of body type is he? Is he tall enough to provide an extra option in the line out?

 

[PaarlBok]

Ashley have a big frame but is not a tall lineout nr8. He got his scrumming from his dad, Archie Johnson we played many a year fatty for the old WP League. He have some good ball skills and the abilty to pitch up everywhere on the field. I know him very well, he captained Paarl Gym in 2004 and his boet who is one year younger took his place as hooker at the Griffons. Ricardo Croy (SWD 2009 and on his way to the Pumas) and Marnus Hugo (Boland 2009 and on his way to Griquas) played the same year as Ashley for Paarl Gym.