As the Springboks prepare to travel to Europe for their end-of-year tour, coach Heyneke Meyerhas confirmed that Bakkies Botha will also be on stand-by for their tour along with Marco Wentzel.
Sport24
News broke on Wednesday about Wentzel being a possible go-to man in the event of injury and Meyer has now confirmed Botha is also being put on stand-by.
“If we get an injury at (number) four, Bakkies [Botha] would be the stand-by man, but for five we’ve looked at Marco Wentzel,” said Meyer during their training camp in Cape Town this week.
“I’ve been in contact with them and they’re both on stand-by.”
Wentzel received his second and last Springbok cap in 2002. He moved to Europe 2007 where he played for Leicester Tigers, when Meyer was the English team’s head coach in 2008.
Wentzel now plays for another English club, London Wasps.
In the event of injury, Meyer was not planning to play any lock out of position as set-piece management might pose problems.
As a result, it was unlikely specialised number fours Eben Etzebeth and Flip van der Merwe would make the starting XV as a pairing but offered options off the deck.
“Flip has really played well this year and Eben has been exceptional,” said Meyer.
“In a sense you’d love to have two guys who really put in the grafting work. (They) could be tough guys in overseas conditions.
“The set-piece is so important over there. I’d love to play them together, so maybe off the bench it could happen.”
Meyer said Etzebeth had been fantastic this season but with lineouts being a technical area, a specialist number five was required.
“Eben has been brilliant but they (him and Van Der Merwe) haven’t called a lot of lineouts together, and it’s such a technical area these days.
“It requires such a lot of preparation, and we only have three (training) sessions.
“I believe we need a specialist five lock in those conditions. I did look at a guy like Johann Muller (of Ulster) for the tour but he is also injured.”
Meyer still believed that experience was a vital aspect to any Test match-winning side.
Meyer felt the spate of injuries which has robbed him of several Boks was the result of them playing too much rugby.
“The players can’t play Super Rugby, Currie Cup and Test matches,” said Meyer.
“I have had a lot of meetings with the players. They have a social and family life as well. As things are presently, these guys are never at home.
“We will lose more and more players to overseas teams if we don’t manage them properly.”
Meyer believed going forward that for South Africa to become and consistently be the best team in the world, the right systems needed to be reviewed and put in place.
Can understand the frustration from some quarters about the inclusion of these guys ahead of local upcoming ones, BUT they are only on standby as far as can be gathered from this article so I guess would only be called up at very short notice in case of injury so it makes sense to have players who are physically closer – I know its only about a 12 hour flight from Jo’burg but still the extra travel to get to Jo’burg and then wait for the flight and then also having to recover from being on the flight (not all folk can sleep on plane) means that it could take a day or two more for anyone flying over to be right to play.
Don’t want to ‘jinx’ the squad but there are only 3 tests this tour so hopefully they will be covered with enough locks in the team and then also Alberts can also cover there at a push so the standby guys may possibly not be needed. So what would the point be of having someone back in SA who is no longer playing with the local season over on standby say for a game in the 2nd or 3rd week of the tour, that person would have to keep training to stay sharp at a time they should be resting up a bit after a long season and ahead of another long one. So by having players based in Europe on standby you have guys who would be match fit if needed, the only worry is that by them playing for their clubs they could pick up injury and not be able to play. Haven’t seen much of Wentzel play so can’t really argue either way on the merits of including him as the overseas guy on standby.
Boks fly first or business class, so don’t worry about lack of sleep, and the doc normally gives them a pilletjie or two to help.
Bakkies I can understand, but Wentzel? Just a slap in the face for the SA based players.
Wentzel? Really, is there not one better or equal lock in SA?
For shame!
3 @ Loosehead:
I said something similar on another thread here yesterday. Meyer should call up Bakkies if he needs another lock, but why Wentzel? Had totally forgotten about him and needed to look up who he was and where he played.
It is certainly a slap in the face to locks playing well this year at home. Meyer is sending the wrong message by keep on selecting overseas based players. Players here will think it is okay to leave and play overseas, as they will get selected, so no need to play in SA any longer. That is the message I am getting and most definitely the players. Only select players from overseas that we truly can not fill the position with a player here. The reason I have no problem with Flo. We don’t have enough fetchers here and Brussow is injured.
We have Bresler that has had a brilliant season for Sharks this year. Sure he was not great in the final on Saturday, but also blame goes to Burden with the Lineouts there. PSDT???? What about giving a youngster a chance, especially of his quality? I did read that Meyer rates him, it was in a article when he mentioned Goosen, Jaco and PSDT. So why not give him a chance?
4 @ Puma:
I agree with using the oversea’s based players if they are in outstanding form, and the cupboard is bare in SA. Much like the hooker and tighthead situation at the moment.
Locks, we have plenty of over here in good form.
Bakkies is a legend and in great form apparently, so him I can live with, but who the hell even remembers Marco Wentzel?
@ Loosehead:
All I remember about Marco Wentzel is a picture of him and his large feet in ‘Rapport’ as a school boy in Pretoria(Waterkloof High?)……and the problems he had at that time during the Craven Week of finding size 15 rugby togs. That was his only ‘claim to fame’ as far as I recall, the school boy player with the largest feet in Craven Week history.
Always reminded me a bit of Nico Wegener.
5 @ Loosehead:
I am with you on that totally. If we don’t have the players here to fill those positions then select the overseas based players. I have no problems with Bakkies either, as he is still playing great rugby and we know he is world class.
I had totally forgotten who Marco was, had to look on the internet, and discover he was capped under Straeuli, so there you go, it was that long ago and Rudolph capped players easy back then. So still in the dark how he plays really.
We have the youngster PSDT that no doubt will become a Bok he is that good, also Meyer rates him. So why not have him in the squad? Bresler has been outstanding for Sharks and only 24 years of age.
6 @ Pietman:
Piet,
Crikey that was funny………………hahahahahahahaha. Remembering a player by his larg feet!! bwaahaaaaa 😆 😆
@ Puma:
meant – large
@ Puma:d.
Strange how one sometimes remembers trivial bullshyte like that,,,,,but it is true!
I recall the picture being taken at a school field in Pretoria, I think Waterkloof High it was, not far from where I lived. I used to watch a lot of school rugby there in those days.
Another one with No 15’s was GrootSchalk Burger.
His first Currie Cup game was for NW.Cape vs NE.Free State at Upington as a 16 year old (Bankfin Cup or something in those days). Eventually they flew in Adidas boots from Jan Ellis’ sports shop in Windhoek (I think it was). Anyway, he nearly didn’t play that day because of this large feet!
(Btw, Schalk still holds the record as the youngest CC player ever, because of that game. He was doing his military training at 8 SAI at the time, and lock partnered the legendary Herklaas Hngelbrecht for NWCape in 1973.)
@ Pietman:
Herklaas Engelbrecht….that should read.
Our own TonyM here on RT was also a team mate of Schalk’s for Weermag at 8SAI those days, and so was Bhloo, a former blogger here and on Voldy.
I played against them many times!!!
10 @ Pietman:
One thing about you Piet, you have always had a good memory. I had forgotten who he was, probably never made a big impression when he did play.
11 @ Pietman:
Ja, you would imagine Schalk Burger snr, having huge feet, he is a big man.
12 @ Pietman:
What happened to Bhloo? Remember speaking to him here and on the otherside, have not seen him for years here actually. Some probably just stop blogging or get too busy.
@ Puma:
@14
Dunno.
He owns a Shell service station on the Reef, lives in Randpark Ridge, I recall. GBS looked him up once and if I am not mistaken he had some serious setback in his health. I might be wrong, but will check on him again, GBS should still have his profile here.
15 @ Pietman:
Remember he said he own a Shell Service Station. Said it when we blogged together on the other side. Good bloke, just wondered where he is.
I can only believe that SARU are so can strapped that they cannot afford the costs of flying players over, and thus have instructed Ostrich to scrape the barrel over there.
3 @ Loosehead:
Still think regardless of doctors business class travel etc that someone potentially joining up with the team in London from London would be less tired than someone travelling from South Africa, and it will also cost a lot less… and with the SA season ended the player in UK should be more match fit. Loosehead as I say not seen much Premiership rugby that has featured Wentzel so can’t argue for or against him as a player but he has played for some big teams over here and surely he must have improved over the years to still have been in demand.
7 @ Puma:
Puma I see PSDT getting lots of rave reviews lately and it may well have been good for him to go on the tour as a fully fledged member of the squad not as in the case of these two who are merely standby players and may or may not even feature. By the way how much time did PSDT get to play in the Currie Cup final?
17 @ Just For Kicks:
It seems like great minds think alike JFK was thinking about the costs (although not from such a negative angle) and hadn’t read your post before I posted mine 🙂
@ Just For Kicks:
Hiyas Kickers, we are both ‘wife-less’ soon I believe…let the good time roll bru!!! Mine out of here next week, busy with Christmas shopping, notebooks and such…very cheap over here.
No man, I think Wentzel is a good call, the oke has been playing there for 10 years and he knows the local ‘terrain’….it is just that we had all forgotten about ‘BigFoot’!!! Danie Rossouw could be another, Guthro is of course always an ‘ace up the sleeve.’, so could Faan Rautenbach and Mujati be if needed. These boys can add a lot of value, and they are just around the corner.
Hell, we could almost make up a complete Boks’ side over there in the Isles and France, come to think of it.
(Saw Wickus Blaauw on tv yesterday,btw, playing for Grenoble or some French team; he is still as kuk as he was when he played for Duineveld High in Upington, so please leave him out!)
20 @ Bullscot:Just trying to find justifiable reasons for such a ludicrous decision (Wentzel, that is)
19 @ Bullscot:
Well I did read a article on on of the sites many months back Meyer saying the young players he rated and would bring them in. That was Goosen, Jaco and PSDT. So a little surprised now not to see PSDT name there, not that he would have started, but just to travel with the Boks and get into their culture as he talks about.
Now would be okay as well, as Sharks are not playing any rugby right now. Anyhow one less player to worry about picking up a injury from my Sharks…..lol.
@ Pietman: Pity we can’t sneak in a few dops together whilst the ‘cats’ are away!!!
We might as well fill the teams up with these old players. Not helping the future cause of the team at all, but, great, for 3 matches, let them loose, and lets win it. I, however, feel that it would benefit our young players left behind, and the future of the Bok team if some of the young upcoming deservee’s (if there is such a word) got a chance. In my mind, building the team is more important than finding someone who last played for the Boks 10 years ago, simply because he knows the terrain. By all means, use these wise old heads as consultants, I am sure that they have vast experience they can impart, but for the love of the Pope, lets see some positive, forward thinking ideas.
You know, I think, if we lost all 3 matches on this tour, but we exposed some of the future prospects to international rugby, conditions overseas, and the Bok set-up, not too many people would be too upset. Hell, it’s hardly as if we are on a role at the moment!!!!
Bakkies is an embarrassment … He prays VERY demonstratively before the match … then proceeds to behave like a typical, stupid thug in the game … and when be is confronted with his thuggery afterwards, he cries like a fkn baby and asks for forgiveness … come next matchday, the pattern repeats itself …
An embarrassment he is …
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