Fair Sharks smattering also expected on duty
SOUTH African sides did not have a good Super Rugby tournament, highlighted by only one play-off representative in the Sharks.
It should be no surprise when Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, notorious for his mixed signals, today announces a Springbok Rugby Championship squad chock-full of Bulls players, with a smattering of Sharks and bits from the Stormers and the Cheetahs.
In the squad announced for the Wales and Scotland inbound tour earlier this year, there was an equal split between Sharks and Bulls players, with each franchise contributing eight.
The Cheetahs had a surprisingly high number for a team that was South Africa’s worst Super Rugby unit.
Despite unending pleas from Sharks director of rugby Jake White with regards to the high rugby mileage the Sharks players have accumulated, the Bok pack will be Shark laden.
Except for last week’s calamitous collapse against the Crusaders, they were consistently one of the best packs in the competition.
Whether White likes it or not, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, along with Marcell Coetzee, Willem Alberts and Stephan Lewies will be pressed into service for the best part of the tournament.
They will also contribute some backs, with Lwazi Mvovo, Cobus Reinach and Pat Lambie being the likely suspects.
Frans Steyn, due to his contractual wrangle ahead of the first test against Wales, will be the obvious absentee, with Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira still a doubt owing to a bulging disc.
It will be difficult for Meyer to justify a large Bulls contingent if their patchy Super Rugby form is considered.
They did not crack the top six even though they were by far South Africa’s second best Super Rugby side.
At home, the Bulls were imperious while being equally useless on the road, with no victories to show in any of their trips outside Loftus Versfeld.
Familiarity with the Bulls players and systems has bred contempt for those who do not wear the light blue.
With players like Schalk Burger and J P Pietersen ineligible for the overseas leg of the Rugby Championship, it should not come as a surprise if Meyer turns to his beloved union to fill those voids.
There was a notable absence of Stormers players due to injury, illness and poor form respectively in the first squad.
Due to their late season rally there will be a noticeably darker shade of blue that will populate the Springboks. Jean de Villiers will assumes the captaincy he temporarily relinquished due to a knee injury, while Eben Etzebeth is also set to make a return from ankle and toe injuries.
De Villiers missed the Wales and Scotland tour through to a knee injury.
An unlucky omission could be that of Nizaam Carr, something that could be put down to the depth in South Africa’s loose-forward department, especially on the open side, where Carr is at his bruising best.
He was the Stormers’ standout loose-forward, fronting up even when his tight forwards were missing in action.
Juan de Jongh would have been a starter had he not been felled by pneumonia but his irresistible late season form will make him hard to jettison.
The Lions and Cheetahs were statistically the worst units, but the latter – South Africa’s basement dwellers – will have a bigger representation than the Lions, with Cornal Hendricks, Willie le Roux, Lood de Jager and Teboho Mohoje set to join the Boks, which is due reward for starring in an under-performing franchise.