Cats could have more clout
8 Feb 2008
The lack of depth in the Cheetahs and Lions squads begs the question why the Cats concept was ever canned.
Both Naka Drotske and Loffie Eloff announced their squads this week, and while several injured Springboks will return to bolster their respective teams later in the competition, it’s patent these franchises are thin on experienced players.
The Cheetahs suffered a mass exodus at the end of last season, losing Os du Randt to retirement, Jannie du Plessis to the Sharks and Ryno van der Merwe, Ollie le Roux, Willem de Waal, Michael Claassens, Marius Joubert, Ronnie Cooke, Philip Burger and Corniel van Zyl to European clubs. Free State president Harold Verster told this website the union couldn’t compete with the lucrative overseas offers and the result sees the current Currie Cup champions severely depleted.
The Lions were struggling from the start, but the end of last season saw Jacques Cronje, Ashwin Willemse and Ricky Januarie bid farewell. Their scrum, which did so well in 2007, will struggle to apply the same pressure without Brian Mujati to support Heinke van der Merwe up front. The union have secured a great new sponsorship, but Eloff’s philosophy is to develop talent rather than buy it. The current crop may remain in Johannesburg due to the attractive paycheque, but it could be a few more years before the team wins any trophies.
There’s been talk of provincial rivalries and the pride in the respective unions, but if one considers the current situation as a must-fix, a merger doesn’t sound like such a bad idea.
The Stormers have faired poorly over the past few seasons, but this is unacceptable considering they can afford to play Springboks off the bench, such is their depth. The majority of the Bulls and Sharks players represented South Africa in France last year, and yet both the Bulls and Sharks Currie Cup teams made the domestic semi-finals. This depth is not apparent at the Lions or Cheetahs franchises. When injury strikes key players, these teams rarely recover.
Eloff has built up the profile of these young Lions players since taking the reins in the 2006 Currie Cup, but his team are still well short on veterans needed to clinch the big fixtures. Including Jaque Fourie and Andre Pretorius, the best Lions side would include five Springboks.
Drotske has also suffered. When Bevin Fortuin and Hendro Scholtz return from injury next month, the Cheetahs squad will boast eight Springboks, two of which (Jongi Nokwe and Wian du Preez) who earned the title but never played a match.
Last year’s Super 14 final saw the Sharks select 15 Springboks in their match 22. Waylon Murray and Ryan Kankowski later went on to become Boks. Fourteen of the Bulls 22 had already worn the green and gold.
The Cheetahs and Lions cannot match these numbers as separate entities, but together perhaps they could launch a realistic campaign for the title. They are good enough to force the odd upset but in a tournament that’s all about consistency, you need 30 quality players in order to go the distance.
Injuries are a part of the game, but in Super Rugby, you can’t afford to hold thumbs for 16 weeks. The second-string has to be just as capable of getting the job done as the first-choice players.
New look Cats –
15 Bevin Fortuin (Cheetahs)*
14 Rayno Benjamin (Lions)
13 Jaque Fourie (Lions)*
12 Meyer Bosman (Cheetahs)*
11 Jaco Pretorius (Lions)*
10 Andre Pretorius (Lions)*
9 Jano Vermaak (Lions)
8 Joe van Niekerk (Lions)*
7 Juan Smith (Cheetahs)*
6 Hendro Scholtz (Cheetahs)*
5 Barend Pieterse (Cheetahs)*
4 Rory Duncan (Cheetahs)
3 CJ van der Linde (Cheetahs)*
2 Adriaan Strauss (Cheetahs)
1 Heinke van der Merwe (Lions)*
Subs:
16 Richardt Strauss (Cheetahs)
17 Wian du Preez (Cheetahs)*
18 Anton van Zyl (Lions)
19 Kabamba Floors (Cheetahs)*
20 Falie Oelschig (Cheetahs)
21 Earl Rose (Lions)
22 Jongi Nokwe (Cheetahs)*
*Springboks
By Jon Cardinelli
167 Comments
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8 Feb 2008, 13:13 pm
#150
No no no, support any team that is playing against Oz or NZ
8 Feb 2008, 13:14 pm
JL1 @ 149
Very smart and mature response. But I was not talking to the peanut gallery.
8 Feb 2008, 13:15 pm
watch the stormers this year SUPER 14 CHAMPS ok ok a guy can dream but i’ll support the lions on every home match seeing that the tickets are free…..
8 Feb 2008, 13:17 pm
agree on that one ok no support for OZ and NZ teams and when they play the bulls i’ll support for a DRAW……
8 Feb 2008, 13:19 pm
Nee wat Kwagga, ek glo nie dis nodig nie. Ons sal maar net nog spelers ontwikkel. Jy is reg, ons het baie spelers verloor, maar dit is nie asof dit vir die Cheetah’s a nuwe ding is nie.
Julle het ook spelers verloor, en ‘n afrigter.
So eintlik is ons almal in dieselfde ou bootjie. Dit is m punt, moenie aanvaar dat julle vanselfsprekende wenners gaan wees nie, omdat julle so goeie geskiedenis het nie.
Net soos almal moet julle ook maar game vir game opdraf, en wen om ‘n beker te wen. Dit gaan ‘n besige en interesante seisoen wees
8 Feb 2008, 13:23 pm
ja nee kani wag vir di rugga om te begin ni……
8 Feb 2008, 13:24 pm
Can’t wait for lunch let alone next week.
8 Feb 2008, 13:32 pm
#155 Nee kyk sukkel gaan ons sukkel. Moet sê as julle daai klomp jonges kan vashou in Bloem is gaan hulle amok maak.
Die geskiedenis deel was net my windgat oomblik van die dag moenie worry nie..
Is jy van Bloem Cheetah?
8 Feb 2008, 14:30 pm
#158,Nee is ‘n Laevelder, van Nelspruit, maar is in Vrystaat gebore, en support hulle nog al die jare, selfs toe ons maar nog gessukkel het om die Guppies uit die A-afdeling van die CC te hou.
Kannie meer wag vir die rugby om te begin nie. dan kan die manne wat dit kan vat, weer begin skerts. geniet Kwagga!
8 Feb 2008, 14:41 pm
#159 Cheers ou Cheetah.Gesels weer n ander dag.
8 Feb 2008, 14:49 pm
Cheers Kwagga, Go in a good way!!
8 Feb 2008, 16:22 pm
Because of the homegrown scenario of Aussie Rules (and also for Rugby League) Australia has State of Origin games, where the players are chosen to represent the state where they were born (I could be a bit wrong on the exact definition). I wonder what would happen if the Cheetah, Lions (and EP) sides were given their fair share of their offspring. My betting is that the Cheetahs would be ten lengths ahead of the field.
8 Feb 2008, 23:49 pm
Bloem is a great place to come from and a dreadful place to go to.
9 Feb 2008, 00:14 am
Simple. Because the Cats were KAK.
9 Feb 2008, 00:53 am
They had a silly name. Sounded like a pool of vomit.
9 Feb 2008, 01:13 am
JC, what a stupid article and a stupid idea! The Cats franchise was tried and tested for many years and was proved to be an absolute failure, time and again, despite the top players avaliable to them! The reasons are well documented. The seperation of the Cats was the best thing to happen in SA for a long time, as it exposed an additional 30 players to the closest thing to international rugby that you can get without dishing out freebie caps.
10 Feb 2008, 03:24 am
#4 More Koos. Mate what JC is saying is that at the moment don’t expected to much from these two teams once a few players get injured. But hey both teams will be going through a building period so there should be some light at the end of the tunnel.
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