The 7th and Article in the set discussing the Sharks Super Rugby players for 2012.
In this Article we look at the contenders for CENTRES in the Sharks 2012 Super Rugby group, and what their worth will be in Super Rugby terms.
The Contenders:
Name: Meyer Bosman
Date of Birth: 19/04/1985
Place of Birth: Bethlehem
Position: Centre
Height: 1.92m
Weight: 100kg
High School: Oakdale Agri. High
Club: Goss & Balfe Crusaders
Bosman started his professional rugby career at the Free State Cheetahs, in the Currie Cup in 2005. His most famous moment during his first season was the winning try he scored in the dying moments of the game against a full strength Blue Bulls team. The score earned the Free State Cheetahs their second Currie Cup championship (the first being more than 30 years prior). Bosman was part of the team that successfully defended the title for the following two years, by ending in a draw in 2006 against Blue Bulls and defeating the Golden Lions in 2007’s final.
At the young age of 20, he made his debut for the Springboks in late 2005, against Wales in Cardiff. The Springboks won the game 33–16, with Bosman contributing two conversions on his debut. He played the next week against France in Paris, again starting at flyhalf. He kicked one penalty goal in the 20–26 loss.
In 2006, the central province of the Cheetahs entered the Super 14, as the new South African rugby franchise. After the season ended, Bosman was called up for the Springboks for the Tri Nations, and was a reserve in the 0–49 loss in Brisbane.
At the end of the 2010 Currie Cup season, Bosman signed with the Sharks, the 2010 Currie Cup Champions. He made his debut for them against his former team, the Cheetahs, in the Super Rugby competition on 19 February 2011, playing at inside center. Ironically the former Sharks inside center, Andries Strauss, played in that match for the Cheetahs, the two players literally swapping the number 12 jerseys for the two teams respectively.
The big centre’s 2011 season closed on a low when he had to miss the last few rounds of the Currie Cup tournament with a broken facial bone, but he will look to reproduce the kind of form that saw him earn Springbok colours earlier in his career as well as shining for the Sharks in his first year in Durban.
Some call him “The Revolving Door”, as his tackling has taken quite a dive in 2011, something he has been working hard to set right.
Name: Tim Whitehead
Date of Birth: 30/051988
Place of Birth: Port Elizabeth
Position: Centre
Height: 1.87m
Weight: 95kg
High School: Grey College, PE
Club: Acer Durban Collegians
This Grey High School (Port Elizabeth) old boy represented WP Under 21 and the SA University side in 2009, despite missing out on both the Varsity Cup (UCT) and the Vodacom Cup due to injuries in the first half of 2009.
He earned the WP Under 21 backline player of the year award in 2009.
In 2010 Tim played for the Ikey Tigers (UCT) in the Varsity Cup and was largely overlooked by WP and the Stormers in 2011, prompting his move to the Sharks on a 2-year contract.
Name: Paul Abraham (Paul) Jordaan
Date of Birth: 04/01/1992
Place of Birth: Somerset-East
Position: Flyhalf/Centre
Height: 1.80 m
Weight: 90 kg
High School: Grey College (Bloem)
Club: Varsity College Old Boys
Jordaan was born in Somerset East in the Eastern Cape, where he attended Gill Primary and represented EP at Under 12 and Under 13 levels in 2004 and 2005 respectively. He then became a boarder at Grey College in Bloemfontein, his father’s alma mater. He was selected for the Free State Under 16’s in 2008 and the Free State Academy side in 2009. He made the SA Academy team in 2009 too but didn’t play because of injury. Paul signed for the Sharks academy at the end of 2009 after having received bigger offers from other unions. While Jordaan has impressed at inside centre, he is also a capable flyhalf.
Paul Jordaan has been a significant contributor to The Sharks junior teams and indeed brings with him raw power and pace at both flyhalf and centre, making him an invaluable member of his former teams and the right mix of creativity and directness required of these two positions.
Name: Marius Charl (Marius) Joubert
Date of Birth: 10/07/1979
Place of Birth: Paarl
Position: Centre
Height: 1.91 m
Weight: 96 kg
High School: Paarl Gymnasium
Club: Duikers
He has previously played for the Boland Cavaliers, Free State Cheetahs and Western Province in the Currie Cup and at the Stormers and the Central Cheetahs in Super Rugby. Joubert was educated at Paarl Gimnasium, alongside Springboks and former Western Province and Stormers teammates De Wet Barry and Jean de Villiers. A few years later, the same school produced another current Springbok star in Schalk Burger.
Joubert started his career at the Boland Cavaliers where he played from 1999 to 2001 when he joined Western Province from 2002–2006. He made his debut for South Africa against New Zealand in 2001 and in that very game, picked up a serious knee injury. Despite several injury setbacks (one of which, a badly damaged shoulder, kept him out of the 2003 World Cup), Joubert continued to develop into a world-class centre.
He was a member of the 2004 Springbok squad that won the Tri-Nations. In the Springboks home match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg against the All Blacks, he became only the second Springbok in history (after Ray Mordt in 1981) to score a hat-trick of tries against the All Blacks. Joubert was also for a time South Africa’s leading try scorer in Tri Nations play, with six tries, before being overtaken by Breyton Paulse.
During the 2006 Super 14 season Joubert’s form dipped dramatically due to several injury problems. Firstly he struggled with a back injury that kept him from playing in the Currie Cup. He then sustained a back injury that kept him out of the Currie Cup and the Springboks’ year-end tour to Argentina, Wales and France. He returned to play for the Stormers in the Super 14, only to break his hand in their final fixture. On 11 September 2006 the Cheetahs announced that Joubert had signed for them for the upcoming 2007 season, thus ending Joubert’s 5 year association with the Stormers and Western Province Rugby Union.
Marius was signed from Cleremont in France in mid-2011. He was is a lethal finisher who brought a wealth of experience to the Sharks backline, but his form in 2011 was, to say the least, disapointing.
He played in 12 of the Sharks 15 Currie Cup games last year including a starting place in the final.
Name: Heimar Williams
Date of Birth: 02/09/ 1991
Place of Birth: Krugersdorp
Position: Centre
Height: 1.80m
Weight: 94kg
High School: Afrikaans Hoër Seunsskool, Pretoria (Affies)
Club: Acer Durban Collegians
Heimar was born in Krugersdorp and went on to grow up with his family in Pretoria. Heimar matriculated from Affies, a school known for its rare rugby talents. It was here where his rugby career started to take off.
He’s currently in his second year at The Sharks Academy, where he hopes to obtain is BCompt degree in the near future. He has already made a big name for himself, having caught the eye of Sharks Coach, John Plumtree. Heimar was recently given a massive boost when he was named on the bench as cover for the injured Marius Joubert. Although Joubert went on to pass a late fitness test, the fact is that it will not be long until Heimar receives another call up.
Be sure to watch out for this explosive centre, as he was named as the “player of the year” in the Under19 age group last year.
He played for the Blue Bulls Craven Week team in 2009 and went on to represent the SA Academy side that same year. More recently he made a big impact in The Vodacom Cup team that went on to reach the Semi Finals stage last year.
He has always managed to make fine centre combinations in the junior teams, adding power and speed to his repertoire of attacking abilities and adds further depth in the crucial centre position.
Additional Players:
The new idea or experiment we’ve seen in recent warm-up games focussed on converting J P Pietersen to an outside centre, which is where I suspect he’ll play most of the season, however for now I’ll pencil J P Pietersen in as a wing in my next Article. We also know that Patrick Lambie can play at inside centre, should the Sharks really need the services of a centre when things start going south!
Starters:
The most probable starting centre pairing will that of Tim Whitehead at inside centre and J P Pietersen at outside centre, but let’s add the revolving door (Meyer Bosman) to the starting mix as well, for good measure.
Marius Joubert has not been a shadow of the type of play which made him a Springbok years ago and I’d probably prefer Paul Jordaan at centre way before the old bones of Marius Joubert.
This was the SEVENTH article in the range dealing with the Sharks, the last Article in the Sharks range will deal with the BACK THREE (WINGS & FULLBACKS).