Venter questions Barritt’s omission
13 May 2010
Martin Johnson’s decision to exclude South African centre Brad Barritt from England’s touring squad is absurd, according to Brendan Venter.
Barritt plays under Venter at Saracens, a team that’s enjoyed great form this season and will feature in a Premiership semi-final against Northampton this Sunday. Barritt is eligible for England selection, but when the squad of 44 to tour Australia and New Zealand was announced, the former Sharks No 12 was omitted because he’s believed to be too small.
‘If Brad isn’t in the best 44, then England have some unbelievable players,’ Venter told The Times. ‘To suggest [as the England hierarchy are said to have done] that he is too small is absurd.
‘I said to Martin that’s one place where they’ve got it wrong. Brad has a very low error rate, he passes beautifully, kicks well out of hand and he’s a great communicator. He was our best player against Leicester last weekend.
‘The three best teams in the Premiership have been Leicester, Northampton and Saracens, and for us to have four individuals out of 70 [Barritt is included in the 26-man England Saxons squad] is amazing.’
76 Comments
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13 May 2010, 19:41 pm
barrit is no big loss to saffa rugby…apparently martin johnson agrees!
13 May 2010, 20:05 pm
@gecko(gecko)-50: Thanks, was not 100% sure. I spoke to him last year when he was here on holiday. He is loving England. So good luck to him.
We missed out it seems.
@scorpion(capestormer)-51: What does Martin Johnson know? The guy is really not a good coach. Good player but that is where it stays. He knows nothing about our rugby. Barrit was a huge loss. He only left cause he was never going to get selected to play for the Boks.
13 May 2010, 20:27 pm
@Puma(Puma)-52: yes you right, he would never have been selected…too short i think.
13 May 2010, 20:32 pm
@Puma(Puma)-52: spot on!
13 May 2010, 20:43 pm
brad made waylon.
put him into space so many times.
waylon looks lost without brad around
13 May 2010, 20:44 pm
@charo(charo)-55:
was going to say waylon looks lost without brad inside him…
but gunther’s lurking
8)
13 May 2010, 21:07 pm
@charo(charo)-56: LOL
13 May 2010, 21:07 pm
@charo(charo)-56: maybe thats why waylon is crabbing and not going straight?
13 May 2010, 21:17 pm
@Seven(Seven)-58:
should have healed by now?
13 May 2010, 21:21 pm
@charo(charo)-59: maybe barret is bigger than the english think
13 May 2010, 21:28 pm
@Seven(Seven)-60:
this is getting silly
13 May 2010, 23:03 pm
serves him right, left here in a hissy fit thinking he will just slot into the Pom team, now he needs a saffa coach to fight his battles! Tshotsho!
Out of the group that Barrit played U21under pdv in ’06 only Jpp & spies are regular Boks, the rest (alistair hargreaves, waylon, scott spedding, bandise maku, heinke van de merwe, leegan daniel, marius delport, isma-eel dollie etc) also haven’t managed to crack it but we don’t see them skipping the country to Mud Island!
14 May 2010, 00:07 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-62:
maybe it’s because none of those mentioned had british passports?
14 May 2010, 00:40 am
barrit is a midget with no class …finish and klaar!juan de jongh on the other hand oozes class and was born to wear the green and gold.
14 May 2010, 08:14 am
Where would England be without all the South African sportsman the represent them, especially in rugby and cricket?
No where!
14 May 2010, 08:58 am
Barritt has already proven himself against the class players of Australia and New Zealand at Super 14 level … Giteau, Mortlock, Nonu etc. Lets see how the chosen England centres go.
He’ll be playing for England by the end of the year and Johnson will be talking about playing conditions suiting him there or some other k@k
@scorpion(capestormer)-64: If Barritt was from the Stormers and De Jongh from somewhere else, you argument would be exactly the opposite.
Barritt and Ronnie Cooke were big losses to SA rugby. We lucky Wynand Olivier also didn’t leave.
14 May 2010, 09:32 am
@Seven(Seven)-4: Cos he is the next best number 12 out there. Better than Meisie Kind evens.
14 May 2010, 11:01 am
@Scorpion 6 ft 1, 95kg can hardly be described as midget…
14 May 2010, 11:04 am
Barritt is 1.86 and 95kg. How exactly is that too small for a centre? That is bulle kak! How much bigger do players need to be these days? I don’t want to see a bunch of gym bunnies bumping into each other. I want to watch world class athletes with a bit of ball skills. This whole crash ball nonsense we see in the NH is exactly why they will always play second fiddle to the SH.
14 May 2010, 11:08 am
Anyone else having trouble logging into Keo? I’ve had to try 3 times now.
14 May 2010, 11:10 am
Barritt is the same height as Olivier and weighs 2 kgs more.
14 May 2010, 11:14 am
Anyway Barritt is an arrogant traitor. He went off to England in the arrogant assumption that he would definitely end up being picked for England. He turned his back on the Sharks and his country, now his adopted motherland has turned its back on him. Martin Johnson clearly wants 15 props on the field. Watch England gets an ar$e kicking of note on tour this year. France, ABs (ofcourse), Bok and Aus will be the only teams contesting the RWC next year.
14 May 2010, 11:49 am
@Make The Circle Bigger(JayDaFiveOh)-72: thats why he came back and helped the Sharks out?
14 May 2010, 13:51 pm
@kevin w(kevin w)-73:
He also needed gametime as he was not playing at all at Saracens at the time.Was getting 10 min here, 5 there at the time.Ask BH even
So its was a mutually beneficial agreement,no one was doing anyone a favour.
But it was a pity we lost him,he would have added stability to midfield for Sharks.Not good enough to be a BOk at present.He is a better version of Swanepoel.De Jongh/Olivier/JDV/Frans Steyn all better 12′s looking at national perspective.
He would however be a welcome part on any S14 squad.Better than Bosman/Doppies/Swanepoel of other franchises.
His leaving I think was facilitated by the need for Muir to keep Frans Steyn at all cost,while not managing the likes of Barrit,Jacobs,Murray well enough.Steyn ended up leaving and chasing Euro’s anyway after all and the latter a bit disillusioned (namely Barritt/Murray)
14 May 2010, 13:53 pm
I just checked for his stats:
Weight = 95 kg
Height = 1.86 m
Im sure most teams wouldn’t mind to have a hard running inside centre that big. Sure he is not Jean dv 100 kg but its not small.
The pommies are just being foolish.
14 May 2010, 16:16 pm
HUGE loss to the Sharks, pity it played out like it did…
I dont believe Brad would be gunning for a Bok 12, not with Jdv. But I’d have him anyday of any week over Olivier.
Johnson, take your goliaths on tour, you will come back with your tails between your legs… SH rugby is on fire at the moment! The RWC will stay in the South next year, the only NH team in contention, at present, is France.
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