Heyneke Meyer emotional and animated in the game between Wallabies vs Springboks, The Rugby Championship, Brisbane, 7 September 2013

The June Internationals are close at hand and Heyneke Meyer has already showed his hand to a certain extent by selecting a Springbok Training Group, which currently excludes players plying their trade in the UK and Europe.

The recent injury to Springbok captain, Jean de Villiers, now determines that a  “Stand-in” Springbok captain will have to be selected and coupled to this the Springbok midfield positions are bound to be re-constituted.

Injuries to key players, specially flyhalf, as well as the 3-match suspension of Adriaan Strauss at hooker will see some juggling around of the match-day 23 and some very clear thinking will be required by Heyneke Meyer to address these issues.

We take a look at the Springbok Captaincy candidates as well as midfield combination and look at hooker options to function as back-up to Bismarck du Plessis.

Captaincy Contenders:

Victor Matfield

Bismarck du Plessis

Francois Louw

Schalk Burger

Duane Vermeulen

Flip van der Merwe

Fourie du Preez

Sport24 reports that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has revealed on Monday that veteran lock Victor Matfield is among “seven or eight” players being considered for the captaincy.

With regular skipper Jean de Villiers ruled out for eight weeks due to a knee injury over the weekend, the position of the armband was a key discussion point when the South Africa coach spoke to the media in Durban, during a three-day national training camp.

“When I first took over as coach there was a lot of inexperience, many youngsters and a lot of guys that hadn’t been leading their provinces,” Meyer said after training.

“Suddenly you have plenty like Bismarck (du Plessis) and Adriaan (Strauss), especially Bismarck now at the Sharks.”

“You’ve got Victor, whose captained for 16 or 17 Test matches, Francois Louw has always impressed me as a captain, it’s a shame he’s not here because I think he’s an awesome captain. He’s shown that at Bath.”

“Schalk (Burger) is back as captain and he’s always been a great captain and I was really impressed with Duane Vermeulen at the Stormers lately, so suddenly there’s probably seven or eight players that can captain.”

Matfield returned to the sport at the start of the 2014 season, two years after retiring, and has since been consistent for the Bulls in Super Rugby.

“Victor’s influence at the line-outs has been amazing,” the coach said.

“It’s almost like having a second coach on the field.”

“He’s world class in line outs and just looks like he’s in slow motion, so I’m really happy to see him again.”

Meyer had no doubt that any of the players on his short-list would be capable of leading the team, but said he wanted to consult with everyone within his squad before making a call.

“The names I’ve mentioned now, I believe every single one of them can do a great job,” he said.

“They know exactly how I want to play, so it will probably be an easy job.”

South Africa play four home Tests during the early international season.

First up is a World XV on 7 June, followed by 2 matches against Wales and a clash against Scotland.

The biggest positional worry, according to Meyer, ahead of those games was finding a suitable candidate at outside centre following a long-term injury to Jacque Fourie.

“I’m a little bit worried about 13,” he said.

However, he had no such qualms about flyhalf, saying that Morné Steyn can easily slot into the position.

The veteran currently plays for Stade Francais, but has not been at his best, meaning he has failed to hold down a regular starting berth during his first season in France.

“I don’t know why but 10 is always a tricky one in this country,” Meyer added.

“I wish we can get to a point where the 10 can just settle and play.”

“But it doesn’t matter because we got Morné, it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t play there, I know he’ll be good.”

“So although there’s not one guy I can say is going to be the starting 10, there’s a few options there.”

The Boks conclude their training camp on Wednesday.

Midfield – Serfontein & De Allende?

Jan Serfontein

Damian de Allende

Sport24 also reports that Jan Serfontein and Damian de Allende are likely to be the Springbok centre pairing for the year’s first Test.

With captain and regular inside centre Jean de Villiers ruled out with a knee injury, Frans Steyn was the likely candidate to replace him in the No 12 jersey.

However, according to reports, Steyn has a troublesome knee which is a worry to Bok coach Heyneke Meyer.

Meyer said he has been impressed by both Serfontein and De Allende in Super Rugby this season.

Both are more adept at inside centre though, but the coach revealed he’d like to see how De Allende goes in the No 13 jersey.

Meyer pointed to the fact that De Allende had played outside centre at school and he’d like to see a player there a similar mould to Jaque Fourie, who is likely to miss the entire Test season with an ankle injury.

“I’d really like to see him at outside centre because I like a big, strong No 13 like Jaque,” said Meyer.

Hooker Backup:

Now that Adriaan Strauss has been suspended for a dangerous tackle and it is known that he will not be available for the Springboks till the game against Scotland on 28 June 2014, questions are asked who the backup hooker to Bismarck du Plessis will be.

With the Bok camp clearly favouring SA based players ahead of overseas players, and only seemly prepared to use overseas-based players in positions where the specific overseas player is clearly best in his position, the hooker stocks have to be scrutinized to make a decision about who will fill the Number 2 and Number 3 hooker positions in the pecking order.

Seeing as Schalk Brits has already been selected to play for the World XV side on 7 June, against the Springboks, he is not going to be 2nd option for Springbok hooker, at least not for the 1st game, but would be available after that, but till when will he be available?

That leaves us with the rest of the South African hookers plying their trade in South Africa and with Craig Burden plying his trade in Europe.

Will Callie Visagie, who has now been called into the Springbok Training Group be utilised as backup hooker, or is any of Kyle Cooper, Deon Fourie or Scarra Ntubeni a better local option?

The Scotland game on 28 June falls outside the regular IRB June Test window, therefore I suggest that going to a local hooker is the only viable option to consider.

Callie Visagie has had an ordinary start to the Super Rugby season, with imperfect lineout throwing, not enough activity in the tight and loose exchanges and not active enough in the tackling department. Has he improved enough as the season progressed?

Kyle Cooper at the Cell C Sharks, has stood in well for Bismarck du Plessis when called upon, but one cannot but wonder whether he has seen enough game time in Super Rugby to be rated as a serious option.

Deon Fourie has been the laughing stock of many DHL Stormers supporters as well as the general SA public, for his inability to find his jumpers in the lineouts and in general for conceding too many penalties in general play, whereas his fellow Stormers team mate, Scarra Ntubeni has had a rather poor run in Super Rugby, mostly due to various injury concerns.

Craig Burden is an overseas option, but that effectively means he will only be available till after the Wales Tests and not for the Scotland Test on 28 June, seeing as that game is outside the official IRB Test Window in June. I guess that largely rules him out as a viable option, in Heyneke Meyer’s book.

My personal preference would have been to opt for Kyle Cooper and not Callie Visagie, who has been drawn into the Springbok Training Group, but it is not my opinion which ultimately counts, that decision rests squarely on the shoulders of Heyneke Meyer.