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If Bakkies is fit, start him!

Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer

Cape Town - If the grapevine from New Zealand is to be believed, Bakkies Botha’s enthusiastic pledge this week that he is fighting fit for the Springboks’ World Cup quarter-final against Australia may only be rewarded with a place among the Springbok substitutes in Wellington on Sunday.

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The bruising lock has walked a frustrating, niggly injury tightrope at the World Cup, and in many ways may be considered a little fortunate to still be there – sending him home must have been a tempting option at times during the pool phase for the Bok brains trust.

But now he claims to be bursting with zeal to get stuck into the Wallabies after sitting out two of the most physically-challenging Bok battles thus far, against Wales and Samoa.

My own view is that if the 32-year-old - almost certainly playing his last World Cup - has passed the required pre-match “medical” then he should be unleashed from the start rather than seated on a bench expected to feature a 5-2 split in favour of forwards once more.

Botha has been a starter for the lion’s share of his international life, after all: the sort of player you want to see make his particular mark on a game early on in the depths of the engine room.

With the creeping influence of age, he has also become more and more renowned for pretty logical substitution somewhere between the 50 to 60-minute mark, allowing a slightly more mobile pair of legs, perhaps, to replace him for the final quarter when games have tended to loosen up and it no longer about “platforms” being set.

So the thought of the bulky, strong scrummager and close-quarters grappler entering the fray on Sunday off the bench, if required, makes relatively little sense to me.

You can understand the Bok selection dilemma, of course - whenever Botha has been sidelined at this tournament, his long-time Bulls team-mate Danie Rossouw has been wonderfully adept in his No 4 shirt.

In the present climate, you could frankly start and finish the tireless, no-frills Rossouw with great confidence in that role for South Africa, regardless of the opponents or stage of the tournament.

But I do still feel that there is better synergy, somehow, to Botha bursting from the starting blocks alongside his old pal Victor Matfield, even if it is for the enforcer to only get the first half for “sagmaak” purposes before Rossouw’s more obvious ball-carrying skills and edge in general mobility enter the equation in the second row.

Then again, maybe the Rossouw-Matfield alliance will function so smoothly that there is no major need for disturbance at lock anyway, and Botha will simply stay a caged beast awaiting his release for hopeful use on later RWC dates.

I would be inclined nevertheless to begin this epic battle with the “Blood Brothers”, rather than perhaps a little eccentrically end it with them ...

*The Springbok starting XV to be announced at 20:00 on Wednesday (SA time) will probably differ little from this, assuming that all injury clouds have suitably lifted and coach Peter de Villiers follows his conservative instincts:

15 Patrick Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Jean de Villiers, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brussow, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 John Smit (capt), 1 Gurthro Steenkamp.

* Click HERE for the latest RWC odds on BET.CO.ZA
 
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