Venter to captain Boks
25 May 2006
Sharks loosie AJ Venter is favourite to be named captain of the Springboks against the World XV at Ellis Park next Saturday.
The Springbok management has yet to decide on who will replace John Smit, but it will definitely come from one of either Venter, Wikus van Heerden or Victor Matfield. A final decision will only be made following the Boks warm-up match against Shimlas on Friday evening.
With John Smit ruled out with a groin strain, speculation has been rife in Bloemfontein as to a possible successor to lead the Boks for the unofficial Test on June 3. Smit may also miss the opening Test against Scotland in Durban, which would mean the man appointed for the World XV game may then become South Africa’s 52nd Test skipper the following weekend.
It is thus a decision that White and co will not take lightly. And only the most deserving of men have been handed the captain’s armband in Springbok Tests.
Several candidates have presented themselves with strong credentials though, but it seems Venter will get the nod. Jake White is a known fan of the leaderhsip abilities of Wikus van Heerden, but it seems the tearaway flanker will not feature in the starting line-up.
Lock Victor Matfield is another with captaincy experience, but he and White are known not to see eye to eye and it is doubtful the Bok coach will elevate Matfield to that position.
Gary Botha is expected to replace Smit in the No 2 jumper, but if Hanyani Shimange starts, then Van Heerden may actually start ahead of Solly Tyibilika and provide him with the opportunity to captain his country.
Cheetahs captain Juan Smith and Stormers duo De Wet Barry and Schalk Burger are not considered strong contenders. The latter two are unlikely to play in Johannesburg anyway.
Possible Springbok XV to play World XV:
15 Percy Montgomery
14 Gaffie du Toit
13 Jaque Fourie
12 Jean de Villiers
11 Andre Snyman
10 Jaco van der Westhuyzen
9 Ruan Pienaar
8 AJ Venter (captain)
7 Juan Smith
6 Solly Tyibilika
5 Victor Matfield
4 Danie Rossouw
3 Jannie du Plessis
2 Gary Botha
1 Eddie Andrews
By Andrew Hollely, in Bloemfontein
213 Comments
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25 May 2006, 18:14 pm
okes
whos got some news ?
:green:
25 May 2006, 18:15 pm
It is Mr green :Mr Green:
25 May 2006, 18:15 pm
Testing.
:Mr green:
I’m all alone…there’s no one here beside me.
25 May 2006, 18:15 pm
sorry all one work
25 May 2006, 18:15 pm
25 May 2006, 18:16 pm
work = word
25 May 2006, 18:16 pm
andrew
fortune favors the brave pal.
living on the edge ,,,,,, thats what I say
25 May 2006, 18:17 pm
25 May 2006, 18:19 pm
I’m off…
25 May 2006, 18:19 pm
that oops one will cause keoberg to do some load shedding.
by the way ,,, please take note of the electicity overload warnings on sabc tonight. green means go yellow means slow and red means stop ,,,, type of thing
25 May 2006, 18:20 pm
25 May 2006, 18:20 pm
It’s waaay tooo cold in bloem. bloody polar bears walking past my hotel room. It’s wrong.
25 May 2006, 18:20 pm
cws
go for it. have you got beeeeeg plans tonight ?
25 May 2006, 18:21 pm
amazon
25 May 2006, 18:21 pm
Andrew
film it ,,,, then sell the tape to discovery ,,,,,,,
I promise ,,,,, scouts honor,,,, you will never ever have to go to Bloem again
25 May 2006, 18:22 pm
So who has started the petition to ge t bobby back in the green and gold
25 May 2006, 18:22 pm
Andrew
as a last q to you.
does Zola Bud still have a restaurant in bloem ?
25 May 2006, 18:26 pm
Kloooklux
it was a idea suggested by a sadistic cult posing under differnt names.
Keo’s gonna have someone look into it.
As long as you stay indoors and lock the doors youll be ok.
25 May 2006, 18:28 pm
adios Andrew
Enjoy the bloem weather.
my worst hail memory come from there while in the army. A old lady made me run out in my shorts and t shirt with a couple of towels to throw over her car. frozen golf balls oddly dispersed with ostrich eggs were coming down.
25 May 2006, 18:29 pm
Where is everyone
25 May 2006, 18:29 pm
Ive got my finger on the pulse of this thread.
hold on……jip she’s dead.
25 May 2006, 18:30 pm
BOk
i was holding up the one man show.
but am going now too. Here taken this flag and make sure the enemy does not get there hands on it.
Good evening to you
25 May 2006, 18:38 pm
When is this game and what time is the kickoff?
25 May 2006, 18:41 pm
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO dont let her die, Ill say any thing to keep this going SOLLY IS THE GREATEST FLANK WE HAVE
25 May 2006, 19:25 pm
oh great, now we have solly (i can’t even make the wildebeest side) tybilika playing against the worlds best
has white lost his f£$%ing mind??
does form mean nothing??
i will pick a player who is totally out of form and play him because he has always done well before.
stupid!!
25 May 2006, 19:31 pm
I Love gold
25 May 2006, 20:40 pm
leeanthonyw
Wake up man, White is a selective manipulative person using the press to further his ideas. How can half his group be injured and the rest be in such a poor condition that they can’t practice at full pace? They’ve just completed the S14 with no complaints. No, White wants the media and suckers like you to put pressure on the amateurs on the rugby board to withdraw his core group from the CC and also the S14 next year. He can’t win the argument by himself.
26 May 2006, 00:50 am
Strewth!!!!! If Gaffie Du Toit and Andre Snyman are the best wings in South africa heaven help the Springboks. What has happened to all those “diadvantaged” wings,specially the twins, who performed so splendidly during the Super 14? And Edddie Andrew at loose head? You have to be joking. His performence with the Stormers was abysmal, boredering on the absurd.. Ah well win four and lose four is about the sum of the mindset of SARFU at the moment. Finally, if the THAT Springbok team were to play the All Blacks at Christcchurch it would be a most humiliating outcome for South African Rugby!!!! Hamba Kahle
26 May 2006, 02:18 am
Sheez, what a slow day in SA yesterday! I see people tried very hard but to no avail!
Anyway, seeing she is dead but not yet 6 feet under lets see if we can get any more out of her…
Ou Grote #62, the game you refer to was Juan’s very first as captain, based on what followed I think he learned a lot and came out much better towards the end, his end that is!
Having said that I believe AJ will/should be the man, Juan can do it after the WC!
26 May 2006, 04:14 am
UPDATE:
Matfield is out with an ankle injury which leave Wikus as the strongest candidate to captain the “Boks” against the World XV
26 May 2006, 05:51 am
Wikus Vaporub, captain of the Cats, under whose leadership they couldn’t even beat an egg…
Ideal Bok captain material, hey?
And this isn’t even a test match!
26 May 2006, 07:06 am
Tackler I see even the kiwi’s are having a go at your ignorance and stupidity.
26 May 2006, 07:46 am
God help us ….. AJ Venter to captain the boks. **** me are the injurys that bad?
26 May 2006, 07:49 am
Kudu, comment 42.
As many people have stated on the site, Skinstad was a brilliant player, probably in the top 3 in the world at the time. Unfortunately I feel that both he and Krige had the same problem which was not being able to play the same game that they always play as well as the responsibility of captaibcy. Their play was far better without the added pressure.
26 May 2006, 07:50 am
tompig agreed however B
26 May 2006, 07:52 am
has andre snyman got any captaining experience? he sure as hell is experienced enough.
26 May 2006, 07:54 am
I see Du Plessis is playing. Nothing against him, just a question. What happened to Sepaka? JW was bitching about Sepaka’s lack of gametime, why doesn’t JW play him? Why JW doesn’t do things he is demanding from provinsial coaches?
26 May 2006, 07:55 am
can’t play sephaka as he is not fit enough – insufficient game time during the season. may put him on once his fitness levels are up.
26 May 2006, 07:57 am
Fuzzybear
26 May 2006, 07:58 am
Fuzzbear, however B?????
26 May 2006, 07:58 am
Sounds like complete shambles!
26 May 2006, 07:59 am
However Bob’s Guiness contract did him no favours.
26 May 2006, 07:59 am
Fuzzybear
Just for interest sake:
Who would you select as captain from the current injury depleted Bok team?
Don’t think AJ is such a bad option.
Matfield didn’t rise to the occasio in the Super14 and I doubt whether Wikus will make the starting line up.
26 May 2006, 08:00 am
Well, June 3 has no meaning, exibition match, the best opportunity to look at your 2d string players and gime game time to those who hadn’t enough in the s14. Or am I wrong?
26 May 2006, 08:01 am
I DON’T UNDERSTAND THE CATS UNDER WIKUS VAN HEERDEN PERFORMED SO DISMALLY YET NOW HE SHOULD BE BOK CAPTAIN. HOW VERY STUPID THINKING FROM JAKE WHITE AND WIKUS SUPPORTERS. COME ON GUYS THE MAN WHO PERFORMED BETTER THAN WIKUS IN THE SUPER 14 IS AJ. HE HAS MORE ABSOLUTE POWER THAN WIKUS. WIKUS SHOULD BE RELEGATED TO CLUB RUGBY AND FIGHT TO BE PART OF THE LIONS SET-UP AGAIN UNDER ELOFF. WIKUS SIMPLY CANNOT PERFORM. THE CATS FINISHED ALMOST LAST IN THE SUPER 14. GIMME A BREAK GUYS!!!
26 May 2006, 08:01 am
yes, you will probably find him on the bench. phase him in over the next couple of games – barring any injuries i suppose.
26 May 2006, 08:05 am
snot, i agree, i think the leaership potential in the team is spread pretty thin. that is why you would probably turn to your more experienced players – monty, aj, snyman. only thing monty can lead is a procession to the nearest hair salon. snyman is a new inclusion to this squad and may not rally have the respect yet from the players. that really ony leaves aj.
26 May 2006, 08:06 am
agreed DurbanShark,
AJ had bigger impact on his team then Wickus. But I still rate wickus as a very good player. It is just his bad luck that he was playing and captaining bad team with the bad coach. He and Jaque Furie were the only players who were giving their 100% in every game. Actually if Wickus had played for the bulls he would have been everyones first choice blindside flanker as he was a couple of seasons ago when he was drafted to the bulls.
26 May 2006, 08:07 am
For interest sake out of that starting lineup I wouldnt play a few of those players.
Rossow, Venter or DuToit. I think JW is sometimes far to biased towards players he “likes” as to form players.
I would play Bosman against Spencer, he might even come on.
I would play that young chap Pieterson from sharks onwing in place of Gaffie.
I would play Big Joe at 8 and make him captain.
Your probably laughing but Big Joe needs to mature as an individual and that would be defining moment for him.
AJ in my eyes is laughing stock in personality, no real respect, and in play abit of a cart horse and this season has made some basic bad decisions for the sharks in both loose and tight play.
Joe definatly has more flair and vision and guys would pasionate, as he always is about the big event.
I just think AJ is too old school wanna be south coast shick with out a clue.
26 May 2006, 08:10 am
Pale
My thoughts exactly.
Wikus may be rated as a captain and has the “track record” as a Cats/Lions player. However the Test arena is different picture.
AJ is one of the “old hands” in the Bok-camp and captaincy is not new to him. As mentioned earlier, I even rate him him as a better captai than Matfield, even with me being a Bulls supporter!
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