Rassie may name different captains for Wales and England
JOHANNESBURG: The next important item on Rassie Erasmus’s agenda is to name his Springbok captain – but will that be one captain or two captains?
Erasmus is expected to provide the answer today when he has his 43-man squad together for the first time ahead of Saturday’s one-off Test against Wales in Washington and the three-Test series against England.
Last year’s captains Warren Whiteley and Eben Etzebeth will both sit out the four Tests because of injury. Will Siya Kolisi become South Africa’s first black captain, or will Erasmus turn to the experienced former Stormers skipper, Duane Vermeulen, who has played for Toulon in France for the last few seasons?
The other captaincy candidate is the Bulls’ young flyhalf and a former Junior Boks leader, Handre Pollard.
Erasmus said on Saturday that he would make an announcement on his captain today, but he didn’t clarify whether he’d name one team leader or two captains.
It is possible Erasmus will name a leader for this week’s match against Wales which falls outside the international Test window and won’t include any of the five overseas-based men he’s picked, as well as a captain who’ll stay behind in South Africa to prepare for the three Tests against England. Only 26 players out of the 43 will travel to the USA, on Thursday.
Kolisi, with 28 caps and one of the Boks’ most consistent performers in the underwhelming Allister Coetzee era, is the favourite for the fulltime job among many rugby followers. But, Vermeulen, the 39-Test cap man, also has his supporters and, like Kolisi, can play in any position in the backrow and will be viewed as a key ball-poacher in the absence of Malcolm Marx.
Following this weekend’s match Erasmus will trim his squad to a more manageable size, which will include all the overseas men – loose-forward Vermeulen, utility back Willie le Roux, centre Frans Steyn, scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and hooker Bismarck du Plessis. They are expected to feature prominently against England.
The squad includes 17 uncapped players, among them exciting and in-form wings Makazole Mapimpi and Aphiwe Dyantyi, centre Laukhanyo Am, scrumhalves Embrose Papier, Ivan van Zyl and Cameron Wright, locks RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins and props Thomas du Toit and Ox Nche.
In all there are 20 black players in the squad, a major boost for transformation of the national side.
Players who weren’t considered because of injury include Whiteley and Etzebeth, hooker Marx and prop Coenie Oosthuizen. There was also no place for several Lions players who were regulars in former coach Coetzee’s sides of the last two years, like Ruan Dreyer, Ross Cronje, Andries Coetzee, Ruan Combrinck and Lionel Mapoe. Injured Courtnall Skosan and Jaco Kriel were not considered.
The Stormers’ Dillyn Leyds, one of the form outside backs in SA this year and a player considered to have X-factor, and his franchise wing partner Raymond Rhule also missed out on selection.
The Boks will train in Joburg until Thursday before the squad to face Wales flies out to the USA. The matches against England, in Joburg, Bloemfontein and Cape Town, follow on back-to-back weekends.