Coenie blow leaves Bok bench light
12 Jun 2012
Coenie Oosthuizen’s neck injury will leave the Springboks without a genuine utility prop for the remainder of the England series.
On Tuesday, the Bok medical staff confirmed that Oosthuizen had ‘a mildly bulging disc in his neck and should be out of action for between two and three months’.
What this means is that Oosthuizen will not be available for the Boks’ next two Tests or the Cheetahs’ remaining Super Rugby matches.
While last Saturday marked Oosthuizen’s Test debut, coach Heyneke Meyer had previously spoken about the prop as an important part of the team’s future plans. Oosthuizen has excelled as a loosehead prop for the Cheetahs, but it is at tighthead where Meyer feels he could eventually be the most destructive.
Oosthuizen performed well when the came off the bench against England, and so many, including the Bok coaching staff, would have felt their front-row combinations were off to an encouraging start.
Now that he is sidelined with a neck injury, however, the Boks will need somebody else to play an impact role as well as provide the team with loosehead and tighthead options.
Werner Kruger has played the majority of his career at No 3 and looked out of his depth when he debuted for the Boks in 2011. Dean Greyling is like Kruger in that he battled during last year’s Tri-Nations and is more a loosehead specialist than a utility.
The other prop in the wider squad is the 21-year-old Frans Malherbe, who has great potential but isn’t yet viewed as the starting tighthead at his franchise.
If seems likely that Kruger will be named in the match 22 when it is announced on Wednesday. Meyer admitted that Oosthuizen’s injury was an untimely one, but still maintains that the reserves can fill that void.
‘Coenie has brought a lot of energy to our team and he played a major part in our victory in the first Test, making a big impact when he came on,’ said Meyer. ‘The player’s welfare comes first and we decided that it would be best for Coenie to rather get some proper rest and rehabilitation now.
‘Hopefully he’ll be back to full fitness soon. He definitely has a role to play in future.’
Beast Mtawarira, Bismarck du Plessis and Jannie du Plessis will continue as the Boks’ starting front row. Jannie is another who believes that Oosthuizen is a prop for the future, and that it was sad to see him robbed of a further opportunity to impress.
‘To lose a player of that quality is a blow,’ said Du Plessis. ‘He’s very strong in the set phases and has the ability to make a lot of turnovers at the breakdown, which is rare for a prop. Coenie certainly made a difference in the first Test.’
Meyer also praised Du Plessis for his own contributions to the team cause. Meyer believes it was Du Plessis’ best match in a Bok shirt, and is expecting the tighthead to maintain the high standards in the matches to follow.
‘I’m not too sure if it was my best performance,’ said Du Plessis modestly. ‘Perhaps it just seems that way because I was seen a bit more [with ball in hand].’
England were guilty of conceding several free kicks for an early engagement as well as a penalty for using a hand to get the shovel ball back on their side. Du Plessis pointed out these instances when asked to comment on the hosts’ supposed scrum dominance last Saturday.
‘Look, it was a great collective performance at the scrum. It really makes a big difference when you have all eight guys working together.
‘Having said that, I’m not sure if you can say we got one over them in Durban. If you start thinking like that, well, that’s the quickest way to ensure you will be brought down to earth in the next game.’
Du Plessis feels that the Bok set piece has improved, and that the expertise of new scrum coach, Pieter de Villiers, has been influential.
‘He’s brought in some new ideas. It’s just the small things that when all told can make a big difference. Technical observations, specific fitness drills, where to position the feet… stuff like that. It all adds up.’
By Jon Cardinelli, in Johannesburg
192 Comments
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12 Jun 2012, 15:30 pm
i thought it was quite strange that John Smit is calling his foundation ‘Barneys Army’…wasn’t it on Keo that he coined the nickname Barney or was that plod? where’s grant10 when you need him…. oh ok, here are the facts
before achieving rugby fame, john’s nickname amongst his close friends was “barney”. the name barney was derived from a character in the famed cartoon series, the simpsons; barney being one of homer simpson’s closest friends and confidants. barney’s large stature, red hair and warm nature were all traits that his mates associated with john, so the name was born and it has stuck to this day!
12 Jun 2012, 15:30 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-144:
Well in 2008/2009 the Boks boast a whopping 67% win record against the AB.
50% vs Aus.
67% vs B & I Lions
A very good record for all intent and purposes, don’t you think.
12 Jun 2012, 15:33 pm
@BuckT(BuckTrendy)-141: Hayi bo!
Tac is not going to like this!
“In a bold coupe for the brand, a GHD spokesperson said that the Bulls back was the ultimate poster boy for the brand now that their target market is aggressively expanding into the 16-25 year old male market. “We noticed product sales spiking in the East Rand of Joburg and quickly realized that the skinny mullet had broken the confides of Boksburg and was becoming mainstream” said the spokesperson. He went on to add, ” thanks to Francois’ public ‘party at the back’ we were able to find a front runner for further growth and are expecting positive second quarter profits as a direct result of the signing’.
12 Jun 2012, 15:33 pm
@BuckT(BuckTrendy)-151:
So, he wasn’t named after the purple creature in a children’s program then?
12 Jun 2012, 15:37 pm
@nama1(nama1)-145: bwhahahahahaha
12 Jun 2012, 15:40 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-153: Farkenell, to be the spokesman for a mullet straightener… Not so sure.
12 Jun 2012, 15:41 pm
@ufo(ufo)-121:
It still has nothing to do with paranoia. Your reply made no sense. It is not taking it personally if I expect a reply to make sense. But I suppose the bar has been set so low both here and in the general SA media that I am probably expecting too much.
My opinion is that most people that comment don’t think about what they say. They heard it somewhere else and because it was a one-liner it was easy enough for them to remember and then regurgitate.
12 Jun 2012, 15:46 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-153:
The GHD is going to be a sell-out in Boksburg and Pretoria amongst the Loftus faithful.
A straigtened mullet to go with the nose ring.
Lieflik!
12 Jun 2012, 15:48 pm
@BuckT(BuckTrendy)-151:
thanks for that.
i always thought it was the barney character who is in prehistoric times that he was named after.
12 Jun 2012, 15:52 pm
@willievz(willievz)-134:
Basson and Mvovo are both primarily replacements for wing. You already have Hougaard covering wing for an emergency which gives us great balance. So putting another player that can only really play on the wing screws up the advantage.
That was the problem with PDivvy all the way through his tenure. He wanted to up the BEE representation. So he picked players who, while not bad players taken in isolation, weakened the bench relative to other more versatile players. Ndungane and Jacobs being two good examples.
If JP or Habana were injured, then yes I would say bring in Mvovo or Basson because that is what they are there as; wing replacements. Aplon is not competing directly with them as he has obviously been picked as a FB replacement.
JJ is also a hybrid wing/centre replacement and probably in Meyer’s mind, outside centre specifically. So there is no reason to suppose he has lost favour.
12 Jun 2012, 15:53 pm
Dont no-one knock the GHD
12 Jun 2012, 15:53 pm
@nama1(nama1)-152:
Impressive record it is indeed
The record holds and it was great to see, however, the 2009 success convinced the ABs and NZ politicians that to win they need to start working to ‘cultivate’ the referees’ angle as a priority?
12 Jun 2012, 15:56 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-157:
What is this brawl about.
Our media is quite capable of independent thought, and so are the many natterers who come here every day.
What is the problem.
12 Jun 2012, 15:58 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-157:
And where on the planet might you be where the bar is set so high that the air is rarified.
12 Jun 2012, 16:06 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-160: Yes, but…
JPP and F.Steyn already covers the 15 berth.
What is the difference between having Mvovo or Basson on the bench (wingers) ahead of Olivier (midfield) – all those players can only effectively cover one position?
But this whole exercise shows you that the original balance of the squad was skewed. Mvovo and Basson only covering wing ahead of Aplon, in the first place?
12 Jun 2012, 16:12 pm
@willievz(willievz)-165:
JJ Engelbrecht can cover both positions off the bench but then he is not a PoC?
12 Jun 2012, 16:14 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-166: JJ is not a centre’s arse right now, dimbulb.
12 Jun 2012, 16:16 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-153:
Nothing about the tatoos?
Where are the days when no Bulls player had tatoos where everybody could see them. It did not go well with the family values they installed at the Bulls.
No this oke with his mullet and tatoos get sommer a R2.2 milion car to drive around with.
Not long before every 16-25 year old kid in Pretoria sport a Maori-like tatoo all over their bodies.
Family values in their moer in Pretoria, I tell you.
12 Jun 2012, 16:18 pm
@nama1(nama1)-145:
Unfortunately this is the sort of statement that is now impossible to prove or disprove. We won’t ever know what Meyer would’ve accomplished with the powerful and settled 2007 WC winning team if politics had not screwed the pooch.
Without pointlessly arguing about what Meyer would’ve accomplished from 2008-2011 we can however clearly point to PDivvy’s ballsups.
His insistence on playing inferior players (January, Rose, Raubenheimer, Jacobs) in either Tests and non-Test matches (leading to GREAT national embarrassment) for no reason other than BEE reasons.
His mismanagement of the bench is a fact accepted and reported on world wide.
Personal grudges kept one of SA’s star players, Francois Steyn, out of the team. The same player (Kirchner) that everyone wants to freak out over now was chosen ahead of him. In fact it seems he got quite a lot of slack on that particular issue.
PDivvy was a man appointed for ideological reasons and not rugby. Why on God’s green earth would we have had the shambolic 3rd Lions Test? Shameful and it ranks up there with the English dirt-tracker losses.
We barely hung on against Wales several times. I don’t care how strong Wales’ team is. I am going out on a limb here and going to predict that Wales will not get that close to winning against the Boks again in the next 4 years now that we have a qualified coach. With the natural caveat that no undue political meddling takes place again.
While I for one was never out-an-out against Smit as captain as I figured I did not know enough of what was going on behind the scenes. But the fact that the coach did not have the confidence or the analytical ability to have sorted that situation out will always be a grey, if not out-an-out black, mark. His controversial appointment (for all the wrong reasons) probably contributed to him needing help from someone like Smit with the team. You see when the the administration cannot even pick the best coach how can we expect to get the best players selected and then the best performance?
SA did ok during his tenure. He certainly wasn’t the worst. That distinction goes to Straueli hands down. The criticism is really about the expectation that we should’ve done better given that we had such an outstanding generation of players. It is made worse by PDivvy being appointed for political reasons. He was always going to get flack for that and right so. To think otherwise is naive.
12 Jun 2012, 16:20 pm
@nama1(nama1)-168: To be fair, the mullet never really went out of fashion in parts of Pretoria. It was pushed back all the way to Danville and Proklemasie Heuwel, where it went underground for a decade, but didn’t die. Now it’s come out, stronger and stringier than before. This one’s gonna be hard to fight off.
12 Jun 2012, 16:21 pm
@willievz(willievz)-165:
True.
Why select FOUR wings for a three match series at home.
12 Jun 2012, 16:21 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-163:
Are we brawling?
I was just having a go at muppets that come up with half-wit one-liners like “oh is Aplon big enough now”. Then UFO thinks that is a sign of paranoia. My expectation is that a reply should at least makes sense, which his doesn’t.
12 Jun 2012, 16:22 pm
“Proklemasie Heuwel”!!!
12 Jun 2012, 16:23 pm
@Hondo(Hondo)-162:
2009 just convinced the ABs that kicking is a integral part of the game and they should do it a bit more than they have been. Which they now do even if not to the same extent that we did in that particular year.
12 Jun 2012, 16:37 pm
@willievz(willievz)-165:
Why is Aplon not in the team ahead of Basson in the squad? I can’t rightly say. It just stands to reason that to replace a FB injury he has brought in another FB.
Hougaard covers wing already in the match 22. Who would cover centre if not Olivier? Nothing wrong with Basson/Mvovo not being on the bench. It seems like Olivier’s primary duty was to ensure that we replace Steyn’s bulk in the midfield (essential to Meyer’s gameplan) which is why he is there ahead of some other crowd favourites. Not saying that is gospel but that is the way it looks to me.
As for the overall balance of the squad… interesting question that I don’t have an answer for. All I do know is that between Meyer and Rassie things will be meticulously analysed and planned. There is a grand plan and the things they do even if not immediately apparent to me probably has a reason. Maybe he is thinking long term? Rather have younger guys in the squad (JJ, Basson, Mvovo to keep them in the loop with an eye to them taking over from Habana/de Villiers before 2015) and call up older players like Aplon (who might not make 2015) in an emergency.
12 Jun 2012, 16:38 pm
@nama1(nama1)-168: haha yep, i’m expectin barend van graan to enforce and air-brushing of all tattooes from bullls players images like david stern did with the NBA…
Tac likes Hougaard but is torn by his actions outside the field and lifedstyle (louis fish, the raucous parties, big engine sports cars). oh hell when deon helberg’s MILF story broke, Tac wished the earth would swallow him…
let’s not even mention P3..
family values at the bulls se moer
12 Jun 2012, 16:41 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-169:
- “His insistence on playing inferior players (January, Rose, Raubenheimer, Jacobs) in either Tests and non-Test matches (leading to GREAT national embarrassment) for no reason other than BEE reasons.”
January and Adi played for the Boks with great success. January being instrumental in beating the AB at hom for the 1st time in 10 year while Adi was nominated foe SA player of the year in 2008 due to his exploits in the Bok jersey.
Afa the other two are concerned, strange you did not mention players like Viljoen who also went on that tour. just saying.
- “Personal grudges kept one of SA’s star players, Francois Steyn, out of the team.”
Frans opted, out of his own free will, to go and play in France knowing full well about a policy that said players playing overseas won’t be selected for the Bok team. PdV never chased him away.
Even when PdV selected him later, after much pressure to select overseas based players, he performed kak. No way that he was better that some of the FB’s who were playing in SA then.
- “We barely hung on against Wales several times. I don’t care how strong Wales’ team is. I am going out on a limb here and going to predict that Wales will not get that close to winning against the Boks again in the next 4 years now that we have a qualified coach. With the natural caveat that no undue political meddling takes place again.”
We beat Wales 6/6 times in the period that PdV was coach. The same period that Wales was experiencing a renaissance in their rugby and was starting to become a rugby force in the world again as proven by them reaching the semis in last year’s RWC.
Political interference in SA sport is a given. Any coach of a national team must take that into account. You are just leaving a loophole there for yourself in case your prediction doesn’t come true. From your statement I guess that you will blame the player/s of colour in the team if the Boks don’t beat Wales by more than 20 or heaven forbid, lose against Wales.
12 Jun 2012, 16:45 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-176:
Actually that Deon Helberg aint half bad
12 Jun 2012, 16:46 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-175:
This conversation went off track – and it is my fault.
I was not questioning the selection of Aplon.
I was questioning the thought pattern behind Aplon as a possible bench option given that he was only drafted into the squad now, rather than questioning his addition to the squad (as you rightly say, a 15 replacement for an injured 15).
If he does find his way to the wood (which appears very likely, if you listen to the mood music), then it would be strange, given there are enough backup for 15 in the starting team already.
12 Jun 2012, 16:55 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-178: If you qualify as an older woman, best you watch out!
12 Jun 2012, 16:58 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-176: Did anyone read the article on Hougie in 3 months ago SI where he is described as a introvert? Strange when following this thread…
12 Jun 2012, 17:04 pm
@willievz(willievz)-179:
By FB backup do you mean Steyn or Pienaar? Sure, but wouldn’t you say that they are more emergency-type backup? Unless I am missing someone else.
Steyns primary role is at inside centre and is integral to our game plan. They would like him to remain there except in the most dire circumstances.
Pienaar, also in an emergency, but I think everyone would rather him stick to scrummie and let a player more accustomed to playing FB shoulder that responsibility. There is probably not much between Aplon and Pienaar regarding kicking, rucks and general defence at FB so if having to choose between the two of them having Aplon’s attacking pace is preferred?
I like my off-the-cuff “youth preference theory”. Meyer opted for younger players more likely to make it to the next world cup for the wide squad. Now that there is an injury he opts for an older player. Purely guess work on my part but I like it. That is why Aplon wasn’t in wide squad. I think it also indicates that Meyer has not identified SA’s preferred FB else he would have been in the squad. Unless that might be the injured Taute.
12 Jun 2012, 17:04 pm
@nama1(nama1)-177:
Rose was actually one of a very few stand out players on that tour for the midweek team. I’m sure you remember that.
12 Jun 2012, 17:05 pm
Heinke Van Der Merwe says he’s up for it
12 Jun 2012, 17:08 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-182:
What happened to Meyer taking it one test at a time and the RWC is not his focus right now.
12 Jun 2012, 17:11 pm
@Bismarck Burger(Bismarck Burger)-181: i read the one in Men’s Health, says nothing about being introverted…a lot about how determined a person he is etc and how excited he was to see the Harley he was doing the shoot on.
12 Jun 2012, 17:24 pm
@nama1(nama1)-177:
@STBUR(STBUR)-169:
- “January and Adi played for the Boks with great success. January being instrumental in beating the AB at hom for the 1st time in 10 year while Adi was nominated foe SA player of the year in 2008 due to his exploits in the Bok jersey.”
January in 2008 was still playing alright although he was already not really at his best. By 2009 it was clear he was way off the pace. PDivvy stuck with him right up to the World Cup ahead of several superbly performing scrummies. Not only was January out of form he was out of shape. It was a shocking selection for 2 years straight and the reason de Preez had to nearly play 80 minutes every game even against no Tri-Nations opponents when he desperately to be rotated a little bit.
I still suspect January’s selection was partly to blame for du Preez’ shoulder injury not being treated earlier thus leading to a mediocre WC performance.
- “Afa the other two are concerned, strange you did not mention players like Viljoen who also went on that tour. just saying.”
Fair enough. No one rated Viljoen either but Viljoen was significantly better than some of those others. Since I am specifically aggrieved with PDivvy’s BEE approach ahead of better team balance that was my primary point. Either way we should never have lost those English dirt trackers. Shocking, whichever way you try to dice it. Whether he picked weak white or non-white players he picked a weak team and embarrassed us.
- “Even when PdV selected him later, after much pressure to select overseas based players, he performed kak. No way that he was better that some of the FB’s who were playing in SA then.”
Rubbish. The whole period was handled badly. Better communication and planning would’ve resulted in Steyn being ready. Like Pienaar now Steyn was sufficiently ahead of any local players. And even if his performances wasn’t as good as he could be it was pretty much on par with Kirchner + huge boot. With better planning that whole situation was avoidable. PDivvy was just too happy to up his quota and use France as an excuse.
- “We beat Wales 6/6 times in the period that PdV was coach. The same period that Wales was experiencing a renaissance in their rugby and was starting to become a rugby force in the world again as proven by them reaching the semis in last year’s RWC.”
We always beat Wales so 6/6 means nothing. But some of those wins were a hairsbreadth from being lost. Like I said, I don’t care about them being in a renaissance of whatever. Wales do not have the resources to trouble a well coached and organized South Africa. The reason they got close was bad team balance and it meant we relied overly on the overplayed golden generation. When they creaked there was nothing to support them with which was partly the reason for SA’s rollercoaster 4 years.
- “Political interference in SA sport is a given. Any coach of a national team must take that into account. You are just leaving a loophole there for yourself in case your prediction doesn’t come true. From your statement I guess that you will blame the player/s of colour in the team if the Boks don’t beat Wales by more than 20 or heaven forbid, lose against Wales”
No loophole. As you say it is reality, I didn’t say it wasn’t. The Boks since 1992 would’ve performed better if there had been no political interference. The difference between us is I think it is atrocious and unacceptable that it is reality whereas you just love it. I can only suspect your reasons but I bet they are most unsavoury.
12 Jun 2012, 17:28 pm
@nama1(nama1)-185:
There is nothing like the deliberately obtuse is there? “Taking one game at a time” does not equate to not planning for the future. You classify as a (3). Either ignorant or a troll.
You can play your best team but still blood and introduce new players into the Bok culture as long as they are genuine contenders and not window dressing like Rose and Jacobs or “players that are no longer good enough but can’t drop them if I have to replace them with a white player” January.
12 Jun 2012, 17:33 pm
@STBUR(STBUR)-188:
The players in the team still support a more conservative, forward based approach. An approach that will be expanded on in the coming months. That is primary what “taking one game” is referring to and specifcally for the starting 22. Which is a further reason Aplon leaped over certain younger squad members.
Everything Meyer does fits. You lot jumping around from one out-of-context one-liner to the next is just smoke and mirrors.
12 Jun 2012, 17:59 pm
@nama1(nama1)-185:
Seriousely?
The last play of the test was a conversion which sailed JUST wide, it didn’t make any difference but if it gone over, perception would have been diffrent!
Beating the Poms at home by 3 points? did HM really plan it so?
13 Jun 2012, 08:59 am
Time for Os to come out of retirement.
13 Jun 2012, 11:53 am
Katman@170.What a wonderful name.Proklamasie Heuwel.
In O.F.S.there was Pramkop,so named for the shape of a local hill.
There was also Onderbroekspruit.One can only wonder about
that ones provenance.Sadly,names have now disappeared.
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