Whiteley man to lead Boks

You have to feel, if as Allister Coetzee claims, he knew “since day one” that Adriaan Strauss was going to retire at the end of this year, why he appointed the blocky blond hooker as Springbok captain in the first place.

There is also the supplementary question of whether it is wise – or even fair – for Strauss to drag out his separation from the national team for what could be another eight Tests in the green and gold.

Coetzee’s protestations that Strauss forms “a vital component in our team and his role has been part of our succession planning” somehow doesn’t ring loud with the clarion sound of reality.

Surely, if the Springbok coach believes that, he must be the only man currently in charge of a major rugby nation who is not frantically focused on instilling some continuity in his side before the World Cup in Japan, just a handful of days over three years away.

The coach, many would believe, missed a trick by not appointing Warren Whiteley as Springbok captain through to 2019. Whiteley has his detractors who would point to the fact that he is arguably not the best eighthman in the South African game, but even the knockers cannot dispute that he is a fine leader of men and been integral in the rise of the Lions from a collection of largely no-name brand players who carried the colours of what was a near bankrupt union into a team ready and able to take on the best in Super Rugby.

And surely this was what prompted Kitch Christie to choose Francois Pienaar – not the best No 6 around according to his critics – as his captain for the 1995 World Cup. Pienaar became the first South African to hold the Webb Ellis Cup high in the air above his Bok jersey.

It was the same thinking that prompted Jake White to insist that John Smit would lead the country to triumph in France in 2007 when Bismarck du Plessis, considered the best hooker in the world, was being left on the bench.

Nick Mallett, one of the more cerebral Springbok coaches, now admits that the biggest mistake he made was to axe Gary Teichmann as Bok skipper before the 1999 World Cup.

Coetzee, despite the pressures he faces, must cut the platitudes, stare the realities in the face and take the bold step of naming Whiteley to lead the Boks.