Has Du Preez got what it takes?
Concerns that scrumhalf may not be ready for tests after long layoff
HE has not touched a rugby ball since the Japan Top League concluded in early February and no one knows how he is keeping sharp, but Fourie du Preez will be expected to take the field for the Springboks when the international season reopens in two months.
Du Preez was not named in either of the 44-man training camps – the one that concluded in Johannesburg yesterday and the May 31 one in Cape Town – and did not make any surprise visits.
The Suntory Sungoliath scrumhalf has not been training with his former union, the Bulls, either, and has not been seen around the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre. The good news is that Du Preez is not injured, Bok team doctor Craig Roberts confirmed this week.
“My understanding is that we’ve been working quite hard with him regarding his conditioning but I haven’t personally been involved with him,” Roberts said.
Du Preez last played when Sungoliath lost the All-Japan Championship final to Yamaha Jubilo 15-3 – Schalk Burger was on the bench for Sungoliath in that game. But he remains Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s first-choice scrumhalf even though he last played for the national team against Scot- land at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium last June.
He missed the entire Rugby Championship last year and the end-of-year-tour to Europe through injury. And, to get over the off-season downtime, Du Preez was spotted caddying for Branden Grace at the Masters at Augusta National in the US last month.
The question is: will he be ready in time to face the World XV in a friendly in Cape Town on July 11 and Australia in Brisbane a week later?
Former Springbok and Stor- mers scrumhalf Bolla Conradie has no doubt that Du Preez, 33, will be as sharp as ever when the international season resumes.
The proof, he said, was in Burger’s stellar performances for the Stormers this season.
“Schalk showed that the Japanese league can prepare you well for Super Rugby,” Conradie said.
“He’s been performing well for the Stormers and I think Fourie du Preez could come back and play well.
“With the experience Du Preez has, I have no doubt that he’ll do well.”
Conradie said there was adequate back-up at half-back in the event Du Preez did not hit the ground running and with Francois Hougaard likely to play on the wing.
With just over three months before Meyer names his 31man World Cup squad, he said: “Rudy Paige and Faf de Klerk have had very good seasons and I’d include Nic Groom in that category as well.”
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