Coenie set for tighthead return
12 Sep 2012
Coenie Oosthuizen is set to make his comeback from injury for the Free State Cheetahs next weekend as a tighthead prop.
Oosthuizen suffered a serious neck injury during the Springboks’ June Test series against England and has been out of action ever since. However, the front-rower has rejoined his Free State team-mates at training this week and is expected to get a run-on against the Blue Bulls in Pretoria next Saturday.
And he’s set to feature at tighthead prop, instead of loosehead.
The 23-year-old has been preferred in the No 1 jersey since making his senior debut in 2008, and only packed down on the other side of the scrum occasionally. But Springbok head coach Heyneke Meyer made a request to Cheetahs boss Naka Drotske earlier this year to give the player a run at tighthead, because of the lack of depth in that position in the national ranks.
Oosthuizen confirmed that he’ll begin the planned transition at Loftus Versfeld.
‘I’m back at training and should be back in the team next week,’ Oosthuizen told keo.co.za. ‘And it will be at tighthead.’
This is good news for the Boks, who are currently struggling with injuries in the front row. Props Jannie du Plessis and Pat Cilliers were injury concerns after the 26-19 loss to the Wallabies last weekend, and inexperienced Stormers and WP No 3 Frans Malherbe was flown over from Cape Town for tighthead cover.
If all goes well, Oosthuizen could make his comeback for the Boks during their Rugby Championship home leg against the Wallabies and All Blacks. South Africa will face Australia in Pretoria on 29 September and New Zealand in Soweto on 6 October.
By Gareth Duncan
25 Comments
12 Sep 2012, 10:51 am
Excellent news!
Now to just get Gurthro Steenkamp and Heinke vd Merwe back from Europe..
Maybe even Brian Mujati too..? We cannot rely on the Sharks’ front-row to get us through – staying in peak form – the entire Test rugby season..
Is Heyneke Meyer astute enough to realise this..?? To date – no. The idiot should have got Gurthro (and Heinke?) back for the Tests vs England in the June Test window… To keep the Sharks’ front 3 fresh for the Rugby Championship and vs Aussie and NZ…
Our front-row for vs England could have been:
1) Guthro Steenkamp
2) Adriaan Strauss
3) Heinke vd Merwe / WP Nel
Front-row bench cover: Tiaan Liebenberg (or Chiliboy Ralepelle), Coenie Oosthuizen.
The above would have been more than good enough to beat England. And – the Beast, Bismarck, and Jannie would have been rested…
Alas – such proactive forward-thinking – is beyond the stupid rugby-relic that is Heyneke Meyer!
He didn’t rest them – he played them in all 3 Tests – and we now have a fatigued Beast and Jannie du Plessis…
By the way – I said all this 6 months ago already.. Ie – In foresight, not hindsight.
12 Sep 2012, 10:56 am
AAAWWWWWW YEEEEAAAH!
12 Sep 2012, 11:19 am
@Nick Armstrong-1:
gurthro, coenie and bismarck would be awesome.
12 Sep 2012, 11:22 am
Nick Armstrong:
I agree with your front row alternativesn espescially Heinke, Guthro and Mujati.
However, I think its a bit harsh calling Heyneke an idiot!
He couldn’t afford to not play his best available team in his first few tests. Imagine the public outcry if we’d lost the seies to Eng! Then straight into rugby champs – not exactly lots of time to experiment.
12 Sep 2012, 11:25 am
@Nick Armstrong-1:
please, what rubbish you talk. the coach with only 5 days to prep before his first test in charge with any number of new selections and combinations……and break up 1 combination he did have in beest bismark and jannie.
that fck you are not the coach.
12 Sep 2012, 11:44 am
@ Brigadier – your Bulls brain reveals itself… Is Heyneke your uncle..?? In case you have forgotten – Gurthro is NO STRANGER to the Boks and Bok playing patterns etc…
Did you see what happened on Sat?? A Springbok pack in REVERSE vs an Aussie pack – a disgrace!! Vs a French, NZ, or English pack (in the past) – that has happened before – but vs Australia – a disgrace!! WELL DONE Heyneke Meyer!!! By NOT resting the Sharks front-row – we now have a FATIGUED Beast and Jannie.. Anyone with a smidgen of rugby nous – would’ve seen this coming if the coach plays them in all 3 Tests vs England… DUHH-UHHH – not rocket science!
Maybe – I/we can concede a point – for the sake of very little time to prepare for the 1st Test – then fine – let the Sharks front-row play the 1st Test vs England – and the 1st Test ONLY – then he could’ve played the above front-row I suggested for the 2nd and 3rd Tests – still giving a crucial mid-season rest to the Sharks front 3…
@ Stand-Off – no Bok combination should lose to that England team. A front-row of Gurthro, Adriaan, and WP Nel or Heinke vd Merwe would’ve pulverised that English front-row.. Then – he should also have got either Bakkies or Danie Rossouw back for those Tests – experienced ‘irons’ in the pack – around which an Eben Etzebeth and a Juandre Kruger would learn and flourish…
And – of course – only brain-**** Meyer thinks that Jacques Potgieter (straight back from injury) would be better than a fully-fit (at the time) Heinrich Brussow… Stupid!!
Our break-down is still a problem – and STILL the tosser ignores Heinrich Brussow.. !!
12 Sep 2012, 11:46 am
Brilliant news. Gonna be awesome this youngster. Just hope they not rushing him after a serious neck injury.
He was brilliant when he came on in the England/Bok test.
12 Sep 2012, 11:52 am
@Nick Armstrong-6: I have harped on that all the time here. Said it over and over.
Why the heck did Meyer not rest all the Shark players that got selected for Boks after we teturned from NZ? Sharks players were moeg then already. That travel was a monster.
Meyer should have rested all the SharkBoks for a week after returning then bring them into the squad for training the following week. We had two weeks then before Arg. Instead the Shark players returned on the Sunday night and had to be training with the Bok Squad on the Tuesday in Cape Town. That was NOT smart from Meyer to make them train then. REST would have been far beneficial to the players at the time. If they had a weeks rest after that huge travel I bet we would have seen the players playing a whole lot better. They are exhausted I feel. Have not had a proper rest since they played the Bulls.
12 Sep 2012, 11:59 am
coenie will breakdown again with the same disc problem – this is a recurrence of the injury he had last year in the currie cup when nel was injured – and it is the same neck/disc injury smit had after messing around a tighthead…
12 Sep 2012, 12:02 pm
@ Puma – exactly mate – exactly!
It’s about planning a 10-month rugby season in advance – and utilising ALL Springbok playing resources available at any given time… Ie – USE the Boks playing in Europe in the June and November Test windows… Their clubs have to release them in these periods – so USE where needed – where players playing in Super Rugby need to be rested… EG – the Sharks front-row…
While this is simple rugby common-sense to folks like you and I (and no doubt many other rugby fans and scribes) – it is rocket-science in Egyptian Hieroglyphics to incompetent bumble-bees like Heyneke Meyer and his legion of Bulls fans…
12 Sep 2012, 12:04 pm
@Nick Armstrong-6:
of course, the bulls brain.
that must be it.
nothing to do with guthro still being in pre-season fitness regime and probably as unreleasable as bakkies is, strauss being uncapped with wp nel having only 1 or 2 caps anyway as well as also being in pre-season as well? throw in a completely new lock combo and 1 uncapped flank with alberts getting his first start from kickoff.
Awesome stuff!
And then of course, every test is there to be won attitude and we are championing a frontrow combo that has never played together, hasn’t even had a chance to properly train together but they would definately without a doubt have been good enough to best a very good england scrummaging unit?
and why is it the sharkies need extra rest. Beest and Bismark were both out of the sharks side with injury breaks during the supercomp.
Why not the same for morne steyn….3.5 years of solid rugby with out so much as an injury break? Or hougaard, who has played every supergame for 3 seasons now and involved with the boks in some capacity every game,etc,etc.
what is so frikken special about the sharks by the way?
12 Sep 2012, 12:16 pm
@ Brigadier – because that Sharks front-row is absolutely CRUCIAL to any ideas of Rugby Championship domination. Simple as that. The ‘back-up’ props/ front-row available in SA (outside of the Test windows) – eg your Bulls mates, Greyling and Kruger et al – are simply not in the class of the Sharks front-row, and not up to the task of dominating in Test rugby…
If your front-row is being mauled – your pack goes backwards – and it’s effectiveness, as a unit, is largely nullified. Again – this is basic rugby common-sense.
By the way – it’s called the June Test window – European clubs HAVE TO release their Southern Hemisphere players in this period, if called upon – it’s an IRB ruling. Ditto in November – it’s called the November Test window…
And – yes – a front-row of Gurthro, Adriaan, and WP Nel or Heinke – with the rest of our pack – WITH Heinrich Brussow of course – WOULD have beaten that England team – yes.
As for Morne Steyn – hahahahaha – are you kidding?? He’s been useless all season long. He’s played maybe 3 good games for the Bulls all year – so WTF warranted his selection in the first place – above, say, a Pat Lambie (while Johan Goosen was injured)… Even Peter Grant – at 94% kicking success rate in Super Rugby – would have been a MUCH better bet than the way-past-his-best Morne Steyn…
Francois Hougaard – at best – an impact player off the bench… Sarel Pretorius should be in the Bok squad with Ruan Pienaar..
12 Sep 2012, 12:26 pm
@Nick Armstrong-12:
okay nick…you know best
you know everything.
might I suggest you apply for the position of bok coach when next it becomes availible.
12 Sep 2012, 13:16 pm
@ Brigadier – not coach mate – simple planning ‘advisor’.. Lol!
A good leader knows he/she does not know all – especially in the fields outside of their endeavour – thus they surround themselves with/ appoint the best in their particular positions/ vocations…
So – yes – I would immediately fire Meyer and his bunch – who are 4 years too late/ outdated – and appoint Dawie Theron and Dr. Brendan Venter and Carel du Plessis as head coach and assistant coaches.. Jacques Nienaber as Defence guru, and Professor Tim Noakes in a conditioning advisory capacity.. The rest of the team – I would leave up to Theron to choose..
Simple.
12 Sep 2012, 14:31 pm
Really hope Coenie can come through….he is a real asset…hope that neck is 100%.
12 Sep 2012, 14:34 pm
This is one of the few smart things Meyer has done so far – hopefully Coenie can make a success of it. We are in desperate need of a genuine tighthead prop.
12 Sep 2012, 14:39 pm
@grant10-15: boet you know how smith said he feared for his life and how painful that neck injury was…now we asking coenie to do the same thing…he came on as a substitute against england and BANG, neck gone for 3 months…you know what Os said about switching to TH.
12 Sep 2012, 14:39 pm
@Transformation-17: smit
12 Sep 2012, 14:41 pm
@Transformation-17: @Transformation-17:
Correct.
And now that our loose head stocks don’t look so flash either rather keep him there.
12 Sep 2012, 15:05 pm
coenie adding ‘can like to doodpoes you from two sides of the scrum’ to his repetoire.
nice.
12 Sep 2012, 21:09 pm
@Nick Armstrong-1:
If you’re going to annoy us with your “expert” take, at least be smart enough to know that neither Mujati nor Gurthro are available at this time.
Mujati can’t play for the Boks because he is a Zimbabwean. He also doesn’t want to play for the Boks, even if he were available.
Gurthro is in pre-season and probably won’t be released by his club.
12 Sep 2012, 22:38 pm
@uncle oswald-21: Uncle….France are a couple of games into there season…
13 Sep 2012, 02:16 am
Thanks for pointing that out, g10.
Whichever way it is cut, Gurthro’s not going to be in the mix at this time. A pity.
13 Sep 2012, 16:00 pm
Coeni is back- tighthead sorted
Brussow back- premier fetcher sorted
Basson back- extra wing option sorted
Chilli back- go forward hooker sorted
Taute back- fullback with flair sorted
So all in all… Vital positions and a few changes then we will come fighting @ home
1-greyling(bulls)
2-ralepelle(bulls)
3-oosthuizen(cheetahs)
4-etzebeth(stormers)
5-kruger(bulls)
6-brussow(cheetahs)
7-alberts(sharks)
8-vermeulen(stormers)
9-hougaard(bulls)
10-goosen(cheetahs)
11-habana(stormers)
12-steyn(sharks)
13-mapoe(lions)
14-basson(bulls)
15-lambie(sharks)
16-strauss(cheetahs)
17-cilliers(lions)
18-bekker(stormers)
19-coetzee(sharks)
20-pienaar(not from a sa club-so wrong imo)
21-lambie(sharks)
22-de jong(stormers)
I believe mapoe is the form 13 imo… He has speed size strength and skills and he is alerted for defense. This can be the best team ever in 12 months time… The best
13 Sep 2012, 16:03 pm
21-taute(lions)
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