Schalk Burger
Experienced and versatile loose forward Schalk Burger has been called up to the Springbok squad for the final two Tests in the Rugby Championship for the injured Francois Louw.
Burger, capped 71 times for the Springboks, will play for his Japanese club, Suntory, on Friday and join the squad in Cape Town as soon as possible thereafter.
Sport24
It will be Burger’s second involvement with the Springboks this year after he made a highly successful return to the national side in June following two years out of the game with injury and serious illness.
Burger featured in all four of the Springboks’ matches in June, starting in the final Test against Scotland, but because of his club commitments in Japan he was not available for the first four rounds of the Rugby Championship.
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer confirmed Siya Kolisi was also an option to replace the injured Louw, but the Western Province loose forward was injured over the weekend ruling him out for approximately a month.
“I feel for Siya as he’s been hitting great form again, but it’s also good to be able to bring Schalk back into the squad,” said Meyer.
“With Willem Alberts still out injured, Schalk’s versatility helps as he can cover any position in the loose trio. He is also very experienced, brings leadership qualities and has been with us so he will slot back in easily.
“Schalk played a superb role in June mentoring the younger players in the squad, and he’ll be able to carry on with that especially with players such as Warren Whiteley and Oupa Mohoje, who has shown massive improvement after only playing in a handful of Super Rugby matches and making his Test debut earlier this season.”
Meyer added that Mohoje has come through exceptionally well in his breakthrough-season and can fill the void left by Louw and Alberts: “Oupa is a strong ball carrier, very fast and hard-working on defence, but he is also a superb option at the back of the line-out.”
The Springbok squad for the final two Tests in the Rugby Championship will gather in Cape Town on Sunday evening and start their preparations on Monday.
Another Geriatric.
Who’s Next……………………………………………..Is Frik still alive.
Another step in the wrong direction.
Should have been Potgieter or Carr.
Speaking of geriatrics evening Caner.
😆
Schalk still has what it takes.
Good call.
@ Stormersboy:
King SchalkBurger.
😆
Think they will start with Oupa at 7, Coetzee at 6 and Vermuelen 8 against the Wobblies.
Burger or Smith off the bench.
So why is Whitely still with the group?
Or has he been sent packing?
cane wrote:
He is, but he’s far too rough to play in the modern game.
Besides, if they give Frik a call up Kevin de Klerk will be miffed and so it’ll escalate.
@ Scrumdown:
Whitely is still there as Vermeulens backup but can also fill in as a flanker. If DV goes down, we don’t have another 8 and that could be problematic.
Never been a Schalk fan…
Throw Oupa a bone.
It is so difficult to understand what the “pecking” order is.
I Schalk ahead of Oupa, Whitely and even Marcel Coetzee?
11 @ MacroBok:
schalk was always ahead of the others in the pecking order… hence his playing ahead of them in june…
he was however contractually bound to go and play in japan after those tests… hence his not being in the squad after june… for the first four rounds of the rugby championship…
so he is now re-available for the boks… and considering the injuries in the boks…
and… considering his good display in the june internationals… makes perfect sense to draft him into the starting line up… imo…
good call by heyneke… imo…
It will be interesting to see how Schalk and Marcel play together. Neither of them is a fetcher in the true sense of the word, I wonder if this will mean that Bismark will start?
Duanne is responsible for a fair amount of turnovers too now that I think about it. Bryan as well.
Now that we know Ruan won’t play I feel a lot better.
Where his game has come on recently is his ability to offload and link rather than just taking contact something this team needs.
Seriously you guys are going for another top pie? Why not just throw.Wahl Bart man a bone as well.
@ gunther:
he did that really well in SR whereis in the past he would never, I look forward to see what he can do.
If he is playing in Japan on Friday, then he will probably only arrive back in SA late Saturday at the earliest or on Sunday depending on flights, probably jet lagged etc so surely he will part of the squad merely as insurance in case any other loose forwards break down in training or at the very most he is being ear marked for a position on the bench.
Schalk Burger is a player have really liked over the years, would have him at the Blue Bulls in a flash even at his age.
Great player but past his best in my view.
Does tend to play smarter now but the game has moved on quicker than he has.
Unfortunately another example of Heyneke’s reluctance to give promising new players a chance.
@ Charo:
Like Whitely and Marcel Coetzee?
and Kolisi… who took it but completely dropped it in SR
I would have preferred Jaco Kriel, but Schalk at this stage is not all too bad with all our injuries, would be unfair to throw in another newbie in the deep end
@ MacroBok:
Oupa has been training with the squad.
Give the bloke a go.
We need a broad range of players for rwc2015.
Heyneke knows what he has with Schalk but not with Oupa.
@ Charo:
I know, we can look at him, but maybe he is just behind Schalk in the pecking order, difficult to play trials against 2 of the top 3 teams in the world.
I also think Alberts might even be ready to play, and it cant be blamed on the coach that the youngsters that got a go did not make the cut or are injured… will have to see what happens in the next week.
@ MacroBok:
I hear you. It is correct that we take every test seriously, whether the tournament is over for us or not.
Nevertheless, HM should be giving the fringe blokes some game time otherwise we end up at RWC with a bunch of geriatrics and completely green fringe players.
@ Charo:
That is if Oupa was simply picked in the squad as a development player to play with the like of Matfield and Vermeulen if certain things were targeted in his game that can improve or a player who is actually going to play… we wont know.
I’m interested in how the Bok loose trio as a whole go forward on their excellent play from the weekend…Flow is a big loss…but Burger can do a good job…it’s what he can bring to the mix of Vermuelen & Coetzee…and if that synergy is disrupted..
@ Charo:
I just dont agree that the game has moved on for Schalk, when he completely overshadowed the “youngster” Kolisi this year… Even overshadowed a few Crusaders players in Christchurch.
@ Te Rangatira:
Yep I think its the biggest problem, they were working so well as a combo, we dominated the breakdown. Will be interesting to see how our loosies go from year, might change the whole team dynamic again.
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