Bismarck du Plessis
Their Castle Rugby Championship 2014 hopes having taken a stinging blow with that controversial, late loss to Australia, South Africa need to find an A-game against formidable New Zealand in Wellington on Saturday … and to have the best chance they must employ every A-grade player they can muster.
Bismarck du Plessis is one such character, his pedigree hardly disputed anywhere in the rugby world, and with others like Fourie du Preez and Jaque Fourie currently unavailable in berths where the Springbok are battling, it makes little sense to muzzle this particular pit-bull to a presence among the substitutes again.
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Plenty of South African judges and not considerably fewer neutrals still consider the muscular Sharks combatant the best hooker on the planet … even if in recent weeks a certain, near-inevitable weariness had crept into his play after over-exposure to the first-class landscape this year.
We all know that Du Plessis was well off his normally unerring best in both, awkward tussles with Argentina and they probably contributed to his rare curtailment to the bench against the Wallabies in Perth.
I say “contributed” because Bok coach Heyneke Meyer has rotated the enviable, high-calibre duo of No 2s at his disposal – Adriaan Strauss the other – before, and had already indicated that the policy would be repeated in this year’s tournament.
For instance, in one of the two clashes with Australia in last season’s Championship, Meyer gave the then Cheetahs captain and now Bulls-bound Strauss a start at Newlands … but significantly he also fielded Du Plessis as start-out hooker each time against the Boks’ fiercest foes of them all, the All Blacks.
It would be a surprise, frankly, if that policy has changed in 2014: I fully expect the traditional first-choice to be reinstated for the contest in the Cake Tin, and not least because he has always before in Meyer’s tenure been the favoured pick in the position against the New Zealanders when fit.
Strauss sports five appearances against the current world champions, though three of those are as a reserve and his only two starts, in 2012, can be explained primarily because the senior hooker had torn knee ligaments in a tourney-opener against the Pumas at Newlands.
The blond marauder was typically busy and often constructive – not to mention being accurate at his key lineout throw-in trade – for the 61 minutes he was on the field in Perth against the Wallabies, a game the visitors looked so much likelier to win until fateful events involving officialdom and the Boks’ own lack of necessary composure in the dying minutes.
You so often get those admirable characteristics from the 28-year-old, a great squad man into the bargain.
But he also doesn’t quite match up to the 63-cap Du Plessis for sheer, priceless aura, if you like, on red-letter occasions such as the one looming on Saturday.
Deep down – though often more publicly too – New Zealanders respect and fear the powerful and bloody-minded qualities the Battleship Bismarck brings to the Test-match party.
Like so many others in green and gold, his most urgent and passionate performances tend to come against the All Blacks, even if all too often these days in eventual defeat.
But if the underdog Boks are to really get into All Black faces in expected rainy conditions, Du Plessis is precisely the sort of staffer who must help lead the assault, even as he eternally runs the risk of nearing or crossing the boundaries of legality.
There are additional reasons at this point to justify Du Plessis returning to his post among the starting XV, a pretty obvious one being the sense of injustice that ought to envelop him all over again after his infamous, erroneous red-carding by Romain Poite in the 41st minute of last year’s corresponding away clash at Eden Park.
The 30-year-old from Bethlehem had been a near-towering personal presence ahead of the costly banishment, his contribution including a try as the Boks were within seven points of the home outfit and fighting hard when the flashpoint occurred.
He may also wish only to re-emphasise his rights to top spot in the SA pecking order at hooker, after being limited to that cameo role in Perth.
Some cameo it was too … let’s face it, if the Boks had earned the victory that had flickered so promisingly for pretty substantial passages, they would have been strongly indebted to that amazing ruck pilfer he engineered in the 77h minute when the Aussies were pressing with all their might.
It is history now that from the resultant penalty that should have taken all the sting from Wallaby last-ditch ambitions, Morne Steyn failed to find touch and a counter-thrust netted the home side the fruits they barely deserved.
That turbo-charged turnover capability he possesses – generated by a cocktail of iron resolve and the brute strength in his upper arms and shoulders – is just one of the variety of reasons why BW du Plessis must wear No 2 in Wellington.
The Boks need all the X-factor they can get.
We know Du Plessis, when suitably on song, has it.
Norty, he used to be the one position where the Bokke had a clear advantage, not so anymore in fact what Bokke player would make the full strength AB side, I can’ think of one.
@ NZINCHINA:
I tend to agree with you.
I can’t recall when was the last time it looked like Bissie was actually enjoying his rugby and it not just being a job. He still does great work in the loose and can steal balls in the league of a younger McCaw, but he doesn’t look like he is having fun.
Line out throw ins are not as accurate as it was in the past.
Coles is on the rise, and I rate him highly, not just as a hooker, but as a player around the park as well
@ nortierd:
Groot will say I have personal problems :
but what Bokke would make the current AB starting lineup?
@ NZINCHINA:
Maybe Eben, now that Whitelock is injured.
I’m sure you wouldn’t mind having him?
@ nortierd:
Fair call, if Whitelock was injured he’d definitely be there but the Bokke are lacking world class players from 1 to 15 and have no real depth in most positions. If you selected a world 15 from fully fit players no Bokke would make the starting 15.
Where’s Groot, he can’t be far off making is mandatory AB weak tight 5 call 😛 😛
5 @ NZINCHINA:
Maybe not none.
If Bissie gets his enjoyment back, then he doesn’t really have a peer at 2, but if he is miserable and pouty on the field, he wins few favors by refs and doesn’t look the player he was 12 months ago.
Maybe the captaincy at the Sharks has affected his outlook, who knows?
A fully fit Eben will always be a contender, but Retallick is the best 5 at the moment.
Flo was devastating last year, but although still good, doesn’t have the same aura.
Noodles, I can think of one player that I’m sure everybody in the world will want….drum roll….Ruan…ta da…. 😆
@ nortierd:
Bissy is out of form but previously he would have made it, Eben wouldn’t push out Retallick he has to win IRB player of the year as nobody else comes close. Ok so maybe one but for the second ranked nation they fall way short. Herr Meyer hasn’t developed any young talent in his tenure and he’ll pay the price next year up north.
@ NZINCHINA:
How many players currently playing for the other top 5 rated countries would make a world team if competing head on with the All Black players?
Izzie and Willie are great, but you have Ben Smith and Dagg as options.
Your third choice flyhalf is better than most countries first choice.
It’s not just SA that is lacking. When playing proper rugby, we will still beat most challengers, and even when playing poor rugby we still manage to beat teams ranked 5th and lower, so it’s not all doom and gloom on the results page, the issue is the way we get those results
@ nortierd:
Yes true that Norty but SA have regressed under Meyer where is all the young talent, if he had his way he’d play all of the class of 07′, poor bugger he obviously thinks he missed his calling after 07′ and maybe he did but Juan Smith, big Victor etc are not the answer.
@ NZINCHINA:
I’m not arguing Noodles, but what must he currently do?
The young crop, as you refer, get their butts kicked in SR every year and there are hardly any of them exactly putting up their hands now, are there?
Hence he must somehow bolster the team with foreign based players and retired players.
If the younger generation is already forced to play dire game plans in SR, it will filter up to the internationals as well. Skills aren’t really taught by our SR coaches, if anything, it’s taught out of the players.
@ nortierd:
Perhaps the talent just isn’t there, we hear about it all the tine but never see it. I reckon NZ rugby players are just more skilled than other rugby nations players, it’s that simple.
@ NZINCHINA:
And their supporters so modest?
😉
China is good at ping pong qiu, the Yanks at netball etc
@ NZINCHINA:
Here is talent, our juniors put the wood over yours twice in NZ in the space of a week, but once the senior coaches get their hands on them, all bets are off and they try to fit a square peg into a round hole by allowing the game plan to dictate how the blokes must play, not allowing the game plan to be formulated around the skill sets of the players
@ nortierd:
I don’t think modesty comes into it, 7’s is a game dominated by highly skilled players, we win it most years or come second at worst. I’ve rewatched the last 6 minutes of the Irish test last year on YouTube
no other team could have scored that try.
@ nortierd:
Yer but previous to that we’d won 4 or 5 on the trot, where are the new superstars in SA rugby over the last few years, there aren’t any, right now Herr Meyer is relying on big Vic and Juan to do the job, why is that?
Norty, good chatting mate enjoy the pub night – cheers.
@ NZINCHINA:
Not quite, England has won it the last two years, in 2012 it was us, your last win in the juniors was 2011.
NZINCHINA wrote:
Cheers NZ, catch up again, post a song or two at the pub night thread
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