Schalk’s irreplaceable
21 Jun 2006
Jake White admits the Springboks will miss Schalk Burger against the French on Saturday.
“We’d be living in a dream world if we thought we’d be the same side without him,” said the Bok coach. “He is worth three or four players on the field. How do you replace a special player like that? However, we have a number of talented loose forwards in the side who I’m confident will do the job against France on Saturday.”
White refused to identify any of the current loose trio (Juan Smith, Joe van Niekerk and Pedrie Wannenburg) as out and out fetchers.
“We don’t have a so-called fetcher in the side,” he said. “Ideally you want 15 fetchers on the field. The fact is that any player can be coached to become a fetcher.”
John Smit also lamented the loss of Burger.
“I saw the knock he took in PE and I think most of us would still be lying down,” said the Bok captain. “He plays like a wild animal and throws himself at the opposition. He’s got plenty of rugby left in him and in my eyes he will always be indestructable.
“Maybe six months off from the game will prove to be a blessing in disguise. He’s 23 years old and his body has taken a lot of physical contact over the last two years. Hopefully, he can recover and come back better than ever.”
By Simon Borchardt, in Cape Town
33 Comments
21 Jun 2006, 11:30 am
BOK NAAI
21 Jun 2006, 11:30 am
We can only hope.
21 Jun 2006, 11:33 am
Schalk plays with allot of passion and commitment (sometimes maybe a little to much) … unfortunatly a quality which seems to be missing or lacking from to many of our boks.
21 Jun 2006, 11:43 am
VAT HOM STINKIE!
21 Jun 2006, 11:43 am
great player, one of our alltime best, what a shame, hope he gets back soon. lengend.
21 Jun 2006, 11:45 am
Cab,
What does lengend mean?
21 Jun 2006, 11:46 am
never heard of lengend.Is it another word for animal?
21 Jun 2006, 11:47 am
it means legend in klingon.
21 Jun 2006, 11:47 am
Thanx Cab!
21 Jun 2006, 11:51 am
This was inevitable!
I really like Schalk, but the way he throws himself into a ruck is just plain dumb!
I have said it on numerous occasions, JW should have tought Schalk to focus on the ball like Greg Smith & Macaw! and not throw his body around like a drunk puppy
IMHO this is the end of SB….. soooooo SAD!
21 Jun 2006, 11:52 am
Luke Watson should be the obvious choice to replace Burger.
21 Jun 2006, 11:54 am
No Zinto,
if JW is true to his word, it would be Solly T !…. this is going to be interesting. hehehehe
21 Jun 2006, 11:56 am
Jake’s no.1 excuse for not winning the World Cup is starting to take shape.
It will also come in handy whenever we lose a game – which will happen a lot this year.
21 Jun 2006, 12:17 pm
It’s not only “fetching” ability, but being able to anticipate the flow of play and skilful slowing down of opposition ball.
This can’t just be coached – it takes game time to learn these finer points and the alchemy associated with the practice of this art.
What purpose is served by sending a player on for 5 minutes – as Jake does with Shimmy, Julies and vd Bergh?
And if Smit must be on the field for 80 minutes, what does it say about the team – if he’s so indeispensable?
21 Jun 2006, 12:18 pm
Tisme – I don’t agree with you,we should stop trying to make our players like Aussie’s\Kiwi’s…..let them play their own game which demonstrates their strengths.Schalk was the best in the world in 2004 & no-one complained about the way he threw himself into rucks then,everyone thought he was the best thing since the introduction of “2 for 1 beer night”
21 Jun 2006, 12:26 pm
I thought that Silly Tyibilika would be the natural replacement for Schalk, but obviously not. How Solly of me?
21 Jun 2006, 12:37 pm
keo can you get some word from JW on the Solly/Wickus question, please?
21 Jun 2006, 12:41 pm
Unfortunately SB will not be back.
The chance of him not making it back is significantly stacked against him.
What is important is that he is still alive and is not a paraplegic (spell). The surgery will get him to normal but contact sport is more like 99% out of the question.
21 Jun 2006, 12:47 pm
that’s bad news BiO;
where’d you get this info?
21 Jun 2006, 12:47 pm
bok in oz,
so what your saying then is that there is still a change.
nice one.
21 Jun 2006, 12:49 pm
Solly and Wickus are both a joke and will kook like idiots if tehy come up against Mccaw or George Smith
21 Jun 2006, 12:57 pm
“The fact is that any player can be coached to become a fetcher.â€
So you better be getting to it then Jake. Or do you only coach defence?
21 Jun 2006, 13:01 pm
Fusion sites are normally stronger than the rest of the bone (like a welding joint). The vertebrae are immobile at this point, and flexibility is reduced. I would guess that there is a redistribution of stress and power down the spinal column, which would create an imbalance in response to an outside shock (like the kamikaze tackles he makes).
Jason Leonard continued playing rugby with a similar injury, but he wasn’t as wild and wasn’t required to tackle as much.
21 Jun 2006, 13:26 pm
I agree div; but what is JW’s excuse after his so-called faith in them; I see Solly’s on the bench for the tjarks; now what?
21 Jun 2006, 13:51 pm
div, are going to play or kook against Mccaw and Smith?
Are good and valuable as Schalk is, nobody is irreplaceable.
21 Jun 2006, 14:11 pm
u blady negative nancies, stop ur bitchn and get a life
21 Jun 2006, 15:00 pm
In the vertabrae it needs to be as flexible as it can be, within limits, if you fuse two of them especialy in the neck the flexibility is reduced and in contact sport there can be increased risks due to inflexibility. Dependant on the location of the fusion in the neck.
Jb (19)
A friend when I was at school had to have a fusion this was due to falling off a horse in a race.
It was recommended to that person that any rough sports was out of the question unless they wanted to increase the risk of paralysis or maybe death due to less flexibility in the neck.
I hope for SB he can play but I am sure he would be advised not to.
21 Jun 2006, 15:06 pm
BokIN, whashappening?
21 Jun 2006, 15:06 pm
Burger is Superman and Watson is not far behind.
21 Jun 2006, 15:19 pm
just a response to ratel’s comment (nr 13) – Jake does not need an excuse to not win the world cup. It is not like we are “expected to win the world cup unless Jake messes up”. We are not that good. We might be 2nd on the world rankings at the moment, but I don’t think we should therefor assume that we should win it. With a bit of luck we might get to the final and then on the day anything could happen. I think people are too quick to criticise Jake. Like the saying goes: “Looks at the scoreboard.” we were nowhere not too long ago, and now we are 2nd. Thats impressive!
21 Jun 2006, 15:22 pm
Sorry folks, this might sound like sacrilege, but with all due respect, it was just a matter of time that SB ended up like this, he’s like a kamikaze on the field. If only he could add some intelligence to his play, he hardly ever passes a ball and hasn’t been making much ground either this season because he’s probably such a closely marked player.
He also conceded two turnovers on Saturday, granted it is now apparent that he had already sustained his injury by then.
Maybe it will shake the rest of the bok team up into stepping up their intensity and not rely on one guy to do all the donkey work.
21 Jun 2006, 17:18 pm
Schalk is internationally regarded as the best fetcher in the world …..he will be graetly missed ….
gute Besserung yunge man
22 Jun 2006, 11:58 am
Arseholes! Why does Jake need excuses for winning or moving us from 6 to 2?
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