What we also know is that what Heyneke’s has said in the past, he has abandoned or suddenly changed course. So lets see next year how Jean copes in Super Rugby and maybe the 1st couple of tests next year. I would like him to play better and stay with this team but his current shortcomings (no pass, crash and generally not helping this backline fire) could be too difficult to ignore if it repeats itself or gets worse next year.

8.Spies
7.Smith
6.Louw

8.Veumelan
7.Alberts
6.Burger

8.Botha
7.Kyolisi
6.Coetzee

shot bro…

i believe eben is the only springbok who stands head and shoulders above the rest in his position, literally and form-wise, and assigning him a leadership role sooner rather than later would be a massive and worthwhile investment in the future of bok rugby…

and if there are guys like jdv, adriaan/bissie, bryan, jpp etc around him initially to assist i can see no reason why he shouldn’t be appointed and do a successful job which he will just get better at all the time…

it’s not that i think jean has done a bad job… far from it and i’m a big fan of his… would just rather get a long-term captain in place as soon as possible…

my fear is that heyneke will continue to use him as a ‘stop gap’ solution until he does breakdown and then leave us having to appoint and establish a new captain a few months before the world cup…

and now that heyneke has said that he intends building towards the world cup such an appointment would make sense…

of course any captain can break down… but as least pick one nearer the start of his career than the end of it…

anyway as munkiboi says… let’s wait and see…

JDV filled a void this year, and did extremely well considering he was probably 5th choice captain when HM got the job. i’m of the belief we should be looking at the next generation, but we also need to focus on results. it is not about building, it is about winning and so experience in key positions will always be needed.

I think from the coach’s box at best. He will need to put in a storming season before he will be selected for the Boks again, even more so to take on the captaincy role.

Like JdV you have to think it is a step backwards and not forwards…

Where would Juan Smith play, positionwise?

Juan Smith another candidate

Out of the “boxsmart” comment UFO. Eben is the next great captain of the Springboks. Heineke knows that. I think 2013 will be the final stage in JdV mentoring him at WP and in the Bok team. By the end of next year, Bissie, Schalk and Co. will not even be in his leadership league. JdV retires, and Bob’s your uncle!

Was this really necessary?

tbh as nice a guy as JDV seems, I don’t think he can say with any real confidence that he is the best 12 or 13 in the country. It might be time to look at other options in this position if we want our back line to ignite with some semblance of creativity.

yet they… with nothing on the line at all… are decidedly conservative and predictable in their own thinking…

very interesting…

in cricket graeme smith was chosen as captain after very few games… can’t remember how many now… and without a full international season under his belt yet… and has a fairly good record over a near decade of international sport…

eben etzebeth is a helluva talent… is spoken about by all foreign commentators as a future great… comes from a family of leaders and is one of the few springboks guaranteed a place in the team by some distance, barring injury…

leadership imo would force him to focus and direct his natural aggression and energy in a positive, constructive and successful manner…

the most successful teams (generallising i know) at world cups have generally been more experienced ones… or ones in which the core of the team has been togetyher since before the previous world cup… aussie in 99, england in 03, nz in 11… even many of jakes team did in fact play in 03…

if heyneke was really innovative and brave and made eben captain now… he would have three years and over 30 tests experience as captain in 2015… and would still be young enough to lead the team into 2019 as well… with the yoing talent we have coming through we could have a hugely experienced team with massive competition for places in it…

but we’ll all do the predictable thing and nominate the usual captaincy candidates straight out of the usual safe suspects box of same old same old favourites… and then we’ll all criticise heyneke when he sticks with his predictable, safe choice…

if we can’t think out-of-the-box with nothing riding on our ‘choices’ how do we expect heyneke to think out of the box with everything riding on his…?

Jean has passed the HM test. Or maybe it should be the other way around. Both are passionate about Bok rugby and will take us forward in 2013. HM did play a massively
conservative game plan but the main thing is he instilled in the squad is a winning culture.

People around here don’t give enough credit to HM – sure the game plan wasn’t pretty. But he still came out on top. And he now knows who is in and who is out.

If you look at his loss ratio this year – it is 25%. 3 losses out of 12 played. If you had offered that to HM at the beginning of the year, he would have bought it. But he will want to beat the AB’s at home next year. Even away. Those are his goals.

But 2012 is done and dusted. HM will have learnt a lot. He has brought through plenty promising youngsters and now knows the players he can build a great squad with.

2013 is going to be interesting as more players come back from injury. And who knows, maybe there’ll be more NH players included. Including those in Japan.

The problem is that he will play 13 a great deal of next year and i don’t feel that’s best for the Boks.

But we’ve had to put up with Pierre and a bunch of other useless players over the years so jean looks like a shining light compared to them.

Good captain too.

It depends on who plays around him. I think that there are some great leaders in the team, Adriaan Strauss, Francois Louw, so he can consider himself lucky in a way.

I wouldn’t pick Bismark as Bok Captain. No way, Don’t see it.