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Rob Houwing
It has long been one of my Speakers’ Corner laments that South African rugby, at either Test or first-class level, generally doesn’t do a great job of managing game-time by valued players.
No 1-ranked New Zealand, by contrast, deftly cocoon their most prized assets when they feel they are in need of a break and the policy tends to pay pretty good dividends.
Just one reason why I am convinced early pace-setters Western Province have violently stalled in the Absa Currie Cup of late is because key forwards like Brok Harris and Duane Vermeulen have been flogged to death, as it were, throughout the season thus far.
This column was penned before the Province team to play the lowly Leopards at Newlands was named, but indications from the camp this week were that both would start yet again - against a winless side so firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. (Twelve points separate the Leopards from the seventh-placed Pumas.)
Yes, WP are under big pressure now to break their losing streak, but if an ambitious “big union” cannot bring themselves to rest the likes of Harris and Vermeulen for what should be a relative five-points formality this weekend, then there is something seriously wrong with their depth of talent – either that or unfathomably low faith prevails in back-up resources.
And now, in a matter of slightly deeper national interest, we have learnt that Springbok and Blue Bulls lock Bakkies Botha has been lumped alongside the various contracted Boks given a blanket “no play” order until October 6.
I have no beef with the base principle of the decision: indeed, it comes as massive, overdue relief that John Smit, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and others must devote their time for the next few weeks to off-field conditioning.
But Botha? Come on, the big unit reportedly counts on one hand the number of times he has pulled a Bulls jersey over his head this year!
He has had plenty of time for personal toning already, given his various acts of stupidity that have curbed his rugby activity for disciplinary reasons.
Controversial figure or not, Botha remains a key cog in the Springbok machine when he is channelling his aggression correctly, and is surely being ear-marked as a very senior member of the weakened (but unlikely to actually be “weak”) squad to tour the British Isles at the end of the year.
So his absence for the next few Currie Cup rounds seems inexplicable, and may well be a case of pettiness from rival unions insisting that if the contracted Boks are to be ruled out of competition, then “all of them” must indeed be an inflexible proviso.
I do wish an exception could have been made, with national interest holding sway.
The cup-holding Bulls, let’s face it, are hardly shoe-ins for the semis yet and are the team most affected by blue-chip absences until early October.
Botha needs a solid stint of action and, presumably after some soul-searching, would have been wishing to prove that in the Currie Cup arena at least, he is capable of skirting yellow cards and making a more rounded contribution than he has done on prior occasions for his franchise or country in an eventful 2010.
Botha may now be unleashed on the Grand Slam tour like some angry Rottweiler who has been caged with a bowl of water and some stale crumbs for too long.
And that is a worry. Our Bakkies has anger-management issues at the best of times!
Rob Houwing is Sport 24’s chief writer and winner of the New Media category at the 2010 SAB Sports Journalist of the Year awards.
Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
It has long been one of my Speakers’ Corner laments that South African rugby, at either Test or first-class level, generally doesn’t do a great job of managing game-time by valued players.
No 1-ranked New Zealand, by contrast, deftly cocoon their most prized assets when they feel they are in need of a break and the policy tends to pay pretty good dividends.
Just one reason why I am convinced early pace-setters Western Province have violently stalled in the Absa Currie Cup of late is because key forwards like Brok Harris and Duane Vermeulen have been flogged to death, as it were, throughout the season thus far.
This column was penned before the Province team to play the lowly Leopards at Newlands was named, but indications from the camp this week were that both would start yet again - against a winless side so firmly rooted to the bottom of the table. (Twelve points separate the Leopards from the seventh-placed Pumas.)
Yes, WP are under big pressure now to break their losing streak, but if an ambitious “big union” cannot bring themselves to rest the likes of Harris and Vermeulen for what should be a relative five-points formality this weekend, then there is something seriously wrong with their depth of talent – either that or unfathomably low faith prevails in back-up resources.
And now, in a matter of slightly deeper national interest, we have learnt that Springbok and Blue Bulls lock Bakkies Botha has been lumped alongside the various contracted Boks given a blanket “no play” order until October 6.
I have no beef with the base principle of the decision: indeed, it comes as massive, overdue relief that John Smit, Bryan Habana, Victor Matfield and others must devote their time for the next few weeks to off-field conditioning.
But Botha? Come on, the big unit reportedly counts on one hand the number of times he has pulled a Bulls jersey over his head this year!
He has had plenty of time for personal toning already, given his various acts of stupidity that have curbed his rugby activity for disciplinary reasons.
Controversial figure or not, Botha remains a key cog in the Springbok machine when he is channelling his aggression correctly, and is surely being ear-marked as a very senior member of the weakened (but unlikely to actually be “weak”) squad to tour the British Isles at the end of the year.
So his absence for the next few Currie Cup rounds seems inexplicable, and may well be a case of pettiness from rival unions insisting that if the contracted Boks are to be ruled out of competition, then “all of them” must indeed be an inflexible proviso.
I do wish an exception could have been made, with national interest holding sway.
The cup-holding Bulls, let’s face it, are hardly shoe-ins for the semis yet and are the team most affected by blue-chip absences until early October.
Botha needs a solid stint of action and, presumably after some soul-searching, would have been wishing to prove that in the Currie Cup arena at least, he is capable of skirting yellow cards and making a more rounded contribution than he has done on prior occasions for his franchise or country in an eventful 2010.
Botha may now be unleashed on the Grand Slam tour like some angry Rottweiler who has been caged with a bowl of water and some stale crumbs for too long.
And that is a worry. Our Bakkies has anger-management issues at the best of times!
Rob Houwing is Sport 24’s chief writer and winner of the New Media category at the 2010 SAB Sports Journalist of the Year awards.
Disclaimer: Sport24 encourages freedom of speech and the expression of diverse views. The views of columnists published on Sport24 are therefore their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Sport24.
