Who should lead Boks?

by coaches like Dick Muir, John Plumtree and Peter de Villiers, with Smit moving to prop.

The Boks have a serious issue at hooker. Strauss was only really good for his line-out throwing accuracy, while the opposite is true of Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi.

Scarra Ntubeni has had serious injury problems, which could keep him out of the first half of next year as well.

Du Plessis is brilliant in every aspect of hooker play – pinpoint throwing, good scrummager, a machine with ball-in-hand, monstrous in the tackle and tough at the breakdown. He may be a fiery customer on and off the field but perhaps that is what the Boks need to reignite that flame that has been missing in 2016 – much like Eddie Jones did by appointing Dylan Hartley as England skipper.

Du Plessis will command respect from every player in the team, he is a passionate South African and would revel in a more attacking game that is required for the Boks to reclaim a place in the top three in the world.

Yes, he is playing for Montpellier in France, but SA Rugby must bring him home to the Sharks and offer him the Bok captaincy with a solid contract. Why would he say no to that?

BRYAN HABANA (33; at World Cup: 36)

Some critics may think he’s past it but Habana proved in difficult circumstances this year that he can still make a contribution to the Bok cause.

It is not his fault that he didn’t get a lot of ball out wide during Coetzee’s tenure. Habana is still a lethal finisher, has played 124 Tests and is an inspirational figure. He doesn’t deserve to go out on such an embarrassing low of losing 20-18 to Italy in Florence.

Maybe not as quick as he has been in the past, Habana still has enough gas to trouble defences. His reading of the play is excellent, he is a committed defender and a great communicator.

The back three has been problematic, with Coetzee chopping and changing the likes of Willie le Roux, Johan Goosen, Francois Hougaard, JP Pietersen, Ruan Combrinck… Even Lambie played at No 15!

Back threes work best when they play together for a long time, eg Percy Montgomery, Pietersen and Habana. Before that, Montgomery, Breyton Paulse and Pieter Rossouw.

Habana is arguably the best Springbok. He has the energy and the will to keep going, possibly even until the 2019 World Cup. For all his greatness, he has yet to be really recognised for it in the Bok set-up. Making him captain would do that.

OUPA MOHOJE (26; at World Cup: 29)

The Cheetahs star has been one of the unlucky ones in the Bok team. He has been outstanding as a “stopping” defender at blindside, knocking ball-runners backwards and putting in the hard yards when carrying the ball as well.

But suddenly he was replaced by a lock, Pieter-Steph du Toit, for the England Test at Twickenham – a match he would be more suited to than facing the All Blacks or Wal- labies. Coetzee’s selection was exposed when Du Toit was dummied twice by England scrumhalf Ben Youngs that led to tries, and the Bok defence were floundering.

Mohoje has seldom had a bad game in a Bok jersey and would make history as the first black Bok Test captain in a democratic South Africa.

He is a positive figure in the team, speaks well off it too, and appears to have matured from the excited youngster who made his Test debut in 2014.

The only thing that counts against him is that he is not an automatic choice, especially with the likes of Siya Kolisi and Sikhumbuzo Notshe set to return from injury in 2017.

FRANS STEYN (29; at World Cup: 32)

“How can you consider a man who walked out on the Springboks?” might be some of the cries if Steyn had to be in the captaincy mix.

But how can you not look at Steyn? He won a World Cup at 20, kicking a nerveless 55-metre penalty at Stade de France to put the Boks ahead by nine points over England in the second half.

Before that, he kicked two drop goals on debut at Newlands to win the game against the Wallabies. Steyn is the ultimate match-winner. Just on playing ability alone, he can solve the inside centre problem that is at the heart of the Boks’ attacking struggles, while he can even fill in at fullback or flyhalf in a crisis. He is a dynamic runner, superb kicker and has a rugby brain that few South Africans can match.

He has calmed down a bit in recent years, having also married his long-time sweetheart Linca Meyer.

It has been partly a self-imposed exile from the Boks as well as a lack of engagement from the powers-that-be, but if he can be influenced to return to South Africa from Montpellier and be captain, that could be the kind of challenge he would be up for.

DUANE VERMEULEN (30; at World Cup: 33)

A lot of people’s favourite as Bok captain, but he was part of the Irish Test series in June and looked well off the pace. Injuries kept him sidelined for a while, but after getting his fitness back, he made himself unavailable for the November tour for a combination of reasons – most significant of which is that his “reputation had taken a knock”, according to Coetzee.

Does he really want the captaincy? He has said so in media interviews recently but it appears as if he wants it on his own terms.

Criticising SA Rugby and the way the sport is run in this country doesn’t win him any favours, though. But he first needs to prove that he can get back to the heights of 2014 and 2015 when he was challenging Kieran Read to be the best No 8 in the world.

He is a quiet personality. That style has been successful before – Gary Teichmann comes to mind – but South African rugby players like to have a leader who takes charge and tells them what to do. Is Vermeulen inspirational enough? And would he be prepared to play in South Africa?

WARREN WHITELEY (29; at World Cup: 32)

The smiling Lions No 8 is the archetypal captain – brilliant player, can motivate his teammates through encouragement and by example, and has achieved great success as a leader at franchise level.

What also counts in his favour is that, if the correct selections are made in 2017, the core of the Bok team should come from the Lions. Even Coetzee has admitted that he got it wrong by not picking the Joburgers en masse for the Ireland series in June.

Whiteley’s attacking style of play is another tick for his box. If the captain truly believes in a game plan, he has a better chance of getting his players to come on board as well. On the form displayed during Super Rugby, Whiteley was the best No 8 in the country. Subsequently, though, he has failed to reach similar heights at the Boks, being more of a workhorse on defence.

But that could’ve been down to Coetzee’s percentage-game tactics and the conservative selections throughout the season. For Whiteley to excel, he needs grafters at flank to do the hard yards to free him up. Perhaps Vermeulen could do such a job at No 7. Whiteley does play in Japan during the Currie Cup, but crucially he is in South Africa for Super Rugby.

OUR CHOICE: Du Plessis

This is his chance to emerge from the shadow of John Smit once and for all. And hookers tend to get better with age. And Bismarck is a fitness freak!

@ashfakmohamed