White dismisses Brits’ Bok claims
30 Mar 2006
Schalk Brits’s performances for the Stormers may have impressed Cape rugby fans, but they haven’t blown Jake White away.
Speaking to the Argus, the Bok coach said Brits wasn’t the form hooker in South African rugby as many seemed to think.
“He has scored one or two individual tries, but his throw-ins at the line-out have not been great and the Stormers have been pushed off the ball in one or two scrums,” he said.
White also spoke of his plans to have the Boks based in Jo’burg at the end of the year. All 24 contracted Springboks are being withdrawn from the Currie Cup for the next two seasons. Only Danie Rossouw and Andre Pretorius – who aren’t contracted – will be allowed to play for their provinces.
“We’ll all be living in Joburg for two months in September and October, but the players will fly home at weekends to spend time with their families,” said White. “The one thing we’ve lacked is conditioning because up to now we’ve never given the players any time off. Now, working with the Sports Science Institute, we will have the chance to work on individual training programmes, speed and weight training.”
75 Comments
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
30 Mar 2006, 13:50 pm
Bloem Leeu … JW can and never will chose S Brits as the number 2 hooker to Smit … can you imagine his predicament when Brits comes on for some reason as a replacement hooker and outshines Smit by a mile .. how will JW then justify playing smit as NO 1 hooker in the bok setup after that. The fans would want brits and JW only answer will be … ‘but john is my captain’
30 Mar 2006, 13:53 pm
No Paws – he won’t pick him as he can’t find his lineout jumpers.
30 Mar 2006, 13:59 pm
Brits very good, abit like the Crusaders back up hooker in Tone Kopelani, very under-rated, but lacks the ability to do one of his job descriptions, and that is finding his man in the lineout but in choosing him, SA also have that V.Biljon guy, G.Botha, and of course the captain Smit.
30 Mar 2006, 14:00 pm
gecko … go look back a little at j smits lineout throwing two or three seasons ago and then come back to me .. it’s was very bad, as bad as brits is now.
That little problem can be rectified .. his game breaking skills and magic, well some have it and others don’t, and the boks need that.
30 Mar 2006, 14:11 pm
Paws, when JS line out record was like that, he was dropped for lukas v Biljon and Danie Coetzee. JS also needed to sort out his lineouts before he was a certainty. SB needs to do the same. It is not a Springbok coach’s job to teach him that, he needs to learn it at his province
30 Mar 2006, 14:30 pm
jds .. JW was then not the coach .. JW will never drop JS, no matter if SB becomes the best line-out thrower in SA / The world.
JS line-out throws are also very suspect sometimes for the boks, and he has the best lock combination is world rugby to throw two. We’ll chat on this subject again during the 3N, I’ll put money on it that sooner or later during that comp it will come up again if JS deserves to be there.
30 Mar 2006, 14:36 pm
I personally will pick John Smit first, and then the other 21. You need a strong leader, and currently in SA it is only Wikus v Heerden that is close to JS when it comes to being a leader. The problem with Wikus is he is nr 3 in his position after Juan and AJ (maybe P3 as well).
That is why the stormers are worste than expected and why the bulls will prove everybody, including me, wrong for thinking they will be successfull.
We can discuss it during the 3N again.
30 Mar 2006, 14:54 pm
jds … unfortunatly I just can’t rate js, and that is why I also don’t see him as a good leader. The one thing we do agree on is Wikus .. I often wonder if he sould not maybe move to lock to try and cement his place in the bok team … granted, it will be very difficult to lift bakkies and matfield, but Wickus is sort of a mould of both of them, and I’m sure if he applies himself he could do it .. he wins good lineout ball for the lions. His workrate is also very good, and he is very consistant.
Mmmmm .. what do you think of Juans captancy potential?
30 Mar 2006, 15:08 pm
Cronje just disappears in test matches. he seems so far off the pace, and you never see him make decent ground. agree pedrie is the way to go, but Jake sees him on the peripheral for some reason.
30 Mar 2006, 15:23 pm
John Smit is by far the best hooker in SA. The quota (forget his name) is just that, a quota only there on the colour of his skin.
My Question is how good would Gary Botha be in the stormers pack?
I think we all know the answer to that.
JW is just covering his arse because he has to select the quota.
30 Mar 2006, 15:31 pm
Paws, i think its because we are both cats that we rate Wikus. Look at the bulls supporters, they rate JP Nel and Wynand Olivier….lol!
I do think Juan Smith has lots of potential, but i do rate John Smit as the best hooker in the country, as well as the best captain by FAR.
30 Mar 2006, 15:36 pm
Ok jds .. we’ll agree to disagree on js … hahaha .. you could be right about Wikus, but from what I’ve read on this sight and chatted to people, Wikus does have quite a bit of respect and is also quit rated. The one thing we can say is that he always plays his heart out.
30 Mar 2006, 15:42 pm
If the entire cats team was like Wikus, the Crusaders would have been scared…lol
30 Mar 2006, 15:44 pm
Ja jong jds .. so true .. and we’d be cc champs.
30 Mar 2006, 16:21 pm
Quite disappointing and actually a bit childlish from our coach to discuss Schalk Brits in the press I would say. Concentrating on the “negatives” makes it even worse! In this way he just confirms the impression that he don’t like Brits and it really is a pity. I would have thought that a coach of stature would discuss things like these in person with aspirant Boks and not in the press. It must be very much demoralising for Brits to read these comments. Luckilly he is a postive guy and will continue to fight his way up – others would have been demotivated. Sorry coach but you are messing up big time now.
30 Mar 2006, 17:01 pm
I disagree with you, Gustafsport – I think it is great the JW is absolutely clear and honest about his assessment of a player like SB. At least Schalk knows what he has to do now to get into the team – he HAS to improve his lineouts and scrumming.
JW has made it clear what his conditions are for making the team, and SB does not have to sit with the false hope that things might fall into place. He has to go out and make it happen himself. That is a FAR better system than what we had before (selection based on who is currently catching people’s attention, regardless of experience, class etc.).
I also think the comparison to Nokwe is unfounded. Players can be brought into the squad to gain experience and get a feel for the system if there is a good chance that they will play in the future and there is an open space. We also have a special duty as a country to provide that experience for black players, as we know they are unlikely to get that experience and coaching in the Super14 and VC (and now I will sit back and wait for the venom!!!).
30 Mar 2006, 17:26 pm
JW just protecting Shimanga for whatever reason, the Sormers staff would love to use Shimanga at No.2 if he was JUST adequate, so they could rid of Andrews and stabilize the front row, but Shimange is not adequate, sorry.
30 Mar 2006, 17:33 pm
Gustafsport,
With you on JW in the media about a player. JW talks to much – remember ireland??????
30 Mar 2006, 17:35 pm
I think Jake is missing the boat on two fronts, Schalk Brits gives you an x factor – somthing that you cannot define or place in a neat box, he should be on the bench for every bok game & when you desperately need a try, on he goes, the ultimate impact player. Secondly I think the conditioning line is second to skill levels – I maintain that our players basic skill levels are not on a par with NZ, Aus, France or Eng (and that pains me to say) – great to have the fittest & strongest players but we will not win consistently unless our skill levels improve by at least a factor of 5
30 Mar 2006, 17:39 pm
Schalk Brits should have stayed with the Cats, he would have had more opportunity. If Monty can resurrect his career by being in the UK for a couple of seasons, then Brits & Russell should try the same.
JW may wll be right in trashing SB in the press iro hooker role & also right about never using Russell, but the only way in which they will develop is by playing in tough competitions with better coaching staff.
30 Mar 2006, 22:12 pm
surely brits has intentions of playing overseas if he doesnt get a bok contract soon. this oke will leave the nest for bigger money. check his ancestry, we could play agaisnt him someday soon.
if britz is a professional sportsman and throwing in to professional jumpers in a lineout, and scrumming can be taught, then why the hell is he struggling so much. i dont believe the issues at lineout time are the sole responsibilty of the hooker. the lineout is a co-ordinaed event that starts with the actual call and then the entire lineout doing their moves 100% correctly. i just think that the stormers arent practising enough, thinking they can get it right in the game.
britz u wanna play boks, then bring your A lineout game to every match, and jake will see your improvement and perhaps offer you a bok training camp.
30 Mar 2006, 22:46 pm
sb has good talent but there is to much other quality hookers in za at the moment.
sb already showed his loyalty by switching provinces, so it would not be too hard to switch countries too. there was some talk a while back when jw didn’t want to choose him for the boks that he would go over.
I really think he should go for it if he gets a good contract.
30 Mar 2006, 22:47 pm
stormers yeeeeehaaaa
31 Mar 2006, 05:54 am
i reckon if there was an injury to either gary botha or smit, britz would be called up into the squad, and jake personally will do lineout drills with the oke for a solid 2months till he gets it rite…every time!
im a very strong believer in loyalty to ones team, especially your team mates, but these are days of professionalism, and in rugby this means contracts, in length and size. look at rathbone, rawlinson, abbot…these okes have done very well for themselves. they probably still dream of playing for the boks oneday, but know that reality is they must make a living out of their chosen career before its too late.
any idea when britz contract expires in the cape?
1 Apr 2006, 08:31 am
I agree with Jake perhaps Britz can change his playing position from Hooker to inside or outside center. He is solid defensively and he has more speed and skill in comparison to some of the top centers in the country eg. Barry, Joubert, Olivier, Julies. He just doesn’t cut it at Hooker
Pages: « 1 [2] Show All
Have your say
You must be logged in to post a comment.