Double joy for Bok skipper Whiteley
IT HAS been a big week for newly installed Springbok captain Warren Whiteley. On Monday, his wife gave birth to their second child and first son Samuel and today, he’ll be leading out the national team for the first time against France at Loftus Versfeld in what will be his 16th Test. He’s one of the least experienced Test captains since readmission and the first from the Lions since Old Selbornian Andre Vos at the turn of the millennium. Whiteley is not overawed by the sense of occasion of being the 58th man to lead the Springboks. The natural, yet exciting phenomenon of childbirth and being a father for the second time has been the bigger deal for him and understandably so. Things could have been harder with the Boks under pressure to turn around their miserable 2016 with a win against Guy Noves’s side. The way they started the season last year with a loss to Ireland in the first Test of the year was a bad foretaste of what was to come even though they went on to win the series. Whiteley was part of the side that faltered at Newlands but said the team is in a far better space than they were last year. “It’s a massive opportunity for us. We’ve had sufficient time to prepare and we’ve had some great training camps during the Super Rugby tournament. It’s definitely benefited us and we also had a great week in Plettenberg Bay where we not only laid a foundation in terms of how we want to play but in terms of the team culture.
“There’s a lot of excitement for what is to come and it’s a case of putting things into practice and that will be seen in the match,” Whiteley said.
“I probably couldn’t have dreamed of a more exciting week and everything has gone really well.
. “I could never have scripted this week in my life. Never ever. I couldn’t have thought of a week like this in my life.
“It started off amazingly because having children is the best thing in life and I feel the cherry on top of the cake is about to come.” Teams: South Africa: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Raymond Rhule, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Teboho Mohoje, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 Francois Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Mbongeni Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Coenraad Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Jean-Luc du Preez, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Dillyn Leyds.
France: 15 Brice Dulin, 14 Yoann Huget, 13 Henry Chavancy, 12 Gaël Fickou, 11 Virimi Vakatawa, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Maxime Machenaud, 8 Loann Goujon, 7 Louis Picamoles, 6 Yacouba Camara, 5 Yoann Maestri (captain), 4 Julien le Devedec, 3 Uini Atonio, 2 Clément Maynadier, 1 Jefferson Poirot.
Replacements: 16 Camille Chat, 17 Eddy Ben Arous, 18 Mohamed Boughanmi, 19 Bernard le Roux, 20 Kevin Gourdon, 21 Baptiste Serin, 22 Jean-Marc Doussain, 23 Vincent Rattez.
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand).