Bakkies Botha has been placed on stand-by by Springbok management in case lock Eben Etzebeth loses his hearing into an alleged headbutt during South Africa’s 26-19 Rugby Championship loss to Australia, coach Heyneke Meyer said on Monday in Auckland.
SuperSport
Etzebeth was cited for an alleged headbutt on Wallaby lock Nathan Sharpe and his hearing will be held at 9am (SA Time) and Meyer has opted to place a call to veteran Botha if Etzebeth should fail in his bid to be cleared.
If Etzebeth should lose his case he will miss South Africa’s clash with New Zealand in Dunedin on Saturday.
However, even if Botha is called up he is unlikely to start the match as the Springboks have locks Flip van der Merwe and Andries Bekker in their squad.
“Bakkies is on stand-by,” Meyer told a news conference.
“We are in contact with Bakkies. We keep in touch with all the overseas-based players. The guys know who is on stand-by and exactly where they stand,” he added.
The 32-year-old Botha, who played the last of his 76 tests at last year’s World Cup, currently plies his trade with French club side Toulon.
Adding to the Boks’ concerns are the three injuries picked up during the loss to Australia. Tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis, who has tweaked his hamstring, prop Pat Cilliers, who has a Grade One strain of the ligament on the inside of his right elbow, and wing Bryan Habana, who has an ankle injury.
Springbok docter Craig Roberts said that he was confident that Habana would be fit for the test against New Zealand but a call would have to be made on Du Plessis and Cilliers on Tuesday as the squad could be short of specialist tighthead props.
Meyer said that he had a few players in mind if a replacement needed to be called up from South Africa.
“We are concerned but we will give the guys until tomorrow before we make a final call. We do have Dean Greyling on the bench but he is a loosehead. It is also difficult now just to call someone in who might not play. We need to make the right call there,” he said.
Madness, call up Elstadt.
I’ll repost this here – same as on another story. Loosehead, agree with you.
Help me out here. This from Front Row Grunt on twitter: Meyer confirms to @keocoza that Bakkies Botha, (playing for Toulon) will join the squad if Etzebeth is banned. Won’t start, though.
Now surely there must be some locks playing in SA at the moment in the CC that are the future of Bok rugby???????? If they’re going to sit on the bench, shouldn’t we be looking at them? The Rugby Championship is a lost cause. Lets build for the future. This obsession with old players is just plain kak.
If we were doing well, and on top, then I would agree, but not now. The sooner Ostrich Meyer does a Leicester Tigers, and “sluips” off, the better in my book.
@ Just For Kicks:
Really can’t agree with you more, mate. The man just has no idea. Always looking back to the past. Bakkies had more than his fair share of F-Ups in the past. How come he is suddenly now a messiah? We as sypporters are in for another torrid era of a clueless, stubborn coach who will because of his ego refuse to admit his mistakes. Because of one man’s ego, our Boks’ record will continue to be stained. Did you read Keo’s article? Very good, he sums up what we have been talking about.
3 @ The_Young_Turk:
Look I don’t think it is a big problem bringing Bakkies back for the rest of the RC if we lose Etzebeth. Our Locks are not that great, only Etzebeth has been okay. Kruger was okay as well but not great. We have so little experience players right now. If we lose Jannie there goes another with experience. To think that Habs, JdV and Fransie are our only experience players there, well Alberts as well. Then we could do with Bakkies for the next few games. That is if he is up to speed. If we do have to bring in a youngster then without a doubt it should be Bresler and not because he is a Shark, but because he has played great, rugby this year and deserves it more so than Elstadt. Bresler is only 24. So there you go if we need a young Lock to come over.
Eben Etzebeth found guilty of foul play and has been suspended for 2 weeks. So I guess we’ll see the return of a dinosaur. Bring on Jurassic Park.
@ Puma:Experience is one thing, but you need to be playing for the experience to show.
@ Puma:
Bring on Elstadt, he is more of a hard player. I don’t know what magic you ole toppies think Bakkies is gonna make. He was battling in his last years and has not always been beneficial to the Boks. You are buying into the experience a bit too much.
I agree we cant keep bringing pack players from the past, I would also tend to go with Bresler, problem with Elstad is he sometimes gets a bit hot headed, and we dont need another guy off the field for 10 minutes, or even worse, suspended like Eben. As for the head butt incident, from what I saw he didnt do any damage to Sharp, but it was over reaction to a nothing incident, and Sharp, experienced guy that he is, milked it for all it was worth.
Etzebeth banned for two weeks. Bakkies to join the Boks.
7 @ The_Young_Turk:
Elstadt is a penalty machine. Doubt Meyer will select him. Bresler has been outstanding this in the S15 for Sharks. If we need another youngster I would then select Bresler.
Bakkies comes with experience though and that right now is what we need. We have just about no experienced players in the Boks. Just a few at the most. Now if Jannie and Habs is out injured then we do need Bakkies for experience.
Boks to make a decision re Etzebeth replacement “later in the week” – think Flip will play, Alberts covering lock and extra loosie on bench. Perhaps sense is finally prevailing.
11 @ Just For Kicks:
Sense prevailing? Surely you jest? Did the Lions start running the SA National Side?
11 @ Just For Kicks:
Yip when I read SS earlier they said Bakkies to join Boks. Now can’t even find that article over there.
Think it will be Flip and Kruger to start then.
So is Bakkies going to join Boks or what?
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