Now, Elton has to keep his lovely hands all to himself
A BAD SIGN FOR A GOOD PLAYER
The one good thing about Elton Jantjies’ broken finger is that we still stop seeing his ridiculous poses with his hands on social media sites. Jantjies and his Lions teammate Lionel Mapoe like to “keep it real” in their Instagram posts, by making all sorts of signs with their hands.
However, South Africans have been robbed of seeing what those lovely hands can do at Test level. Jantjies deserved to be back in the green and gold of the Springboks after a terrific Super Rugby campaign.
He has had his fair share of misfortune over the last few years, and I hope that he catches a break one of these days to show that he can be a star at Test level. Let’s hope that he has recovered in time for the third match against Ireland in Port Elizabeth to have a crack at that Bok No 10 jersey.
BULLS WITH NO BALLS
The Bulls bragged about their new style of play at the start of the season, and said that they are embracing a new, dynamic style of play. Their stampkar days were over, and they would swap their khaki outfits for a lovely mix of pink and denim.
However, there was absolutely no evidence of that at Loftus last weekend when they showed no attacking prowess against the Stormers.
Fair play to the men from the Pretoria, they won the game by defending like demons and employing negative play, which was missed by New Zealand referee Ben O’Keefe. But if they had played against a Kiwi side, they would have been put to the sword.
The Stormers made a lot of mistakes and chose the wrong options against the Bulls. If they showed a bit more composure, it could have been a massacre on the Highveld.
But, I guess, as Boy Louw would have said: “Looks at the scoreboard.”
HAPPY, HAPPY ALLISTER ... FOR NOW
New Bok coach Allister Coetzee celebrated his 53rd birthday on Monday, which also coincided with his “roadshow” at the Stormers.
And he was treated to a song by his former players, and there were jokes all around during his visit. The same thing probably happened at the other unions (except for the singing, of course ...) when he popped in to share his plans for the coming months.
However, Coetzee’s honeymoon will come to an end this weekend when he announces his first Bok squad for next month’s incoming series against the Irish.
As Bok coach, you can never please anybody. So people will always be moaning about your tactics, selection and, like Peter de Villiers found out, even your moustache.
So, Toetie, I hope you still have some birthday cake left to sweeten your mood. Life only becomes bitter from now on.
WATCH OUT FOR ...
The last time there were Du Plessis relatives in the backline at Newlands, Western Province were almost unstoppable. So, Stormers coach Robbie Fleck will be hoping that cousins Daniel and Jean-Luc du Plessis can make the same magic their legendary dads created when they run out together for the first time in Super Rugby tomorrow.
Daniel, who is the son of WP icon Michael, will start at outside centre for the Stormers. Jean-Luc, the offspring of Carel, has already played a few matches at No 10 this year.