Muller’s Bok shock
19 May 2006
New Springbok lock Johann Muller was surprised to hear his name read out during the squad announcement last week.
Muller formed a superb partnership with 36-year-old veteran Johan Ackermann during the Vodacom Super 14, as the Sharks scrum destroyed most opposition packs. However, it was Ackermann who was expected to get the Bok call up, not his younger counterpart.
“I try not to read the papers, and although I had heard my name mentioned I didn’t think I would make it,” said Muller. “It was just unbelievable to hear my name read out. The first person who called me was John Smit. He said he had known about my selection for weeks, but didn’t want to ruin the surprise!”
Muller was born in Mossel Bay and went to Oakdale High. He made his provincial debut for the Sharks in 2001 and his Super 12 debut the following year. He has also captained the Sharks when Smit was with the Boks.
“The past week has been a great experience and obviously it’s a dream come true,” he said.
If Jake White decides to rotate his players during the Incoming Tests, Muller could make an appearance at his home ground against Scotland on 10 June. Now that really would be a dream come true.
9 Comments
19 May 2006, 16:28 pm
Surely you guys at Keo can do better than this…
19 May 2006, 16:31 pm
Everyone’s a critic…. Even Johann deserves his time in the spotlight, you know
19 May 2006, 16:37 pm
so are you still a sharks supporter simon?
19 May 2006, 16:40 pm
lol
19 May 2006, 16:41 pm
Nice thing about this blog is that it allows us to give journos a taste of their own medicine , same as in the sports pages were every journalist writes as if they are the worlds best rugby player here every user posts as if they have won a pulitzer Givem hell Swapo!
19 May 2006, 16:41 pm
lol @ redox
19 May 2006, 16:57 pm
Simon,
Totally agree with you (Point 2). Good luck to Johann, he deserves it.
19 May 2006, 17:56 pm
this doesn’t really look that bad going into the match against world XV.
Having Matfield/Bakkies getting a rest for one match , due too super14 commitment i think we should try a lock combination of Muller with vd Berg, and Danie Roussouw on the bench ( i would personally have danie as starter, but we need a more solid line-out option). There is no sense having Matfield/Bakkies in this match, the outcome isn’t important, its not even an official test, and its a perfect match to try out new guys. Put them in the deep end and see how thay cope with it.
As for the props it also isn’t that bad yet. Tighthead unfortuneatly we’ll have to go for Eddie – no way du Plessis will get a call just for one test. But on the loose it doesn’t look all that terrible with Lawry aka Lorry and Carstens as back up. Ofcourse i know that most of you will cry for Deon to be the starter, but i guess his place is on the bench. Lets see if a prop combo of Lawry/Eddie gets it right. I have faith in them.
there is no need to panic, we should still manage to fairly beat an unorganised group of world veterans. But even if things go wrong, it would be the perfect match to see the weak links etc.
20 May 2006, 07:30 am
Dont feel alone Muller.
We were just as suprised.
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