Selection Strife

Posted on Tuesday, 20 September 2011 (9:09 am)

I have been slightly out of the loop as I have been preparing for my matric mock exams but have I missed something? Why is Peter de Villiers punishing Gio Aplon and Francois Louw?
Aplon has not featured once in the Rugby World Cup and Louw has only played a lousy ten minutes courtesy of a blood bin replacement. Both Louw and Aplon are great players and I say that not because they played for Western Province but because it is simply a fact. That is why it is not only shocking that they have not received decent game time but it's disgusting and an insult to players with Louw and Aplon's calibre. 

I have been very vocal about my disagreements with Peter de Villiers' selections from the beginning. I am from the school where we believe that the best player, who at that moment is in the best form should be selected. Peter de Villiers seems to be from the school with the philosophy, "I don't know what I'm doing. so I'll just copy Jake White's team and hope that I achieve the same results."


Namibia was the perfect opportunity to give the usual starters a rest. So I fail to understand de Villiers' need to drop Bismark du Plessis who generally plays off the bench. If I were the coach I would gave given Smit a rest... a long rest... in fact I would book him a one-way ticket home. 


I also would have replaced Fourie, M. Steyn, and Burger with de Jongh, James and Louw respectively. If all goes to plan; Fourie, Steyn and Burger will have plenty of game time and thus it is crucial that they be managed correctly.


While Namibia are the underdogs and the Springboks should take it fairly easily, there is no reason why the players should go all out and play to the best of their ability. I sincerely hope that Aplon grabs his starting opportunity with both hands and proves why he should be in the starting XV every week. The Springboks will undoubtedly be a better team for it.


Springbok Team to Face Namibia:


 15 Pat Lambie, 14 Gio Aplon, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Willem Alberts, 5 Danie Rossouw, 4 Bakkies Botha, 3 CJ van der Linde, 2 John Smit (c), Gurthro Steenkamp.
Subs: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Francois Louw, 19 Heinrich Brüssow, 20 Fourie du Preez, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Juan de Jongh. 


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