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Comment: Rob Houwing, Sport24 chief writer
Cape Town - There’s been lots of tiptoeing around the issue of John Smit’s justification in pure playing terms to lead South Africa in this World Cup year as defending champions ... but suddenly Sharks coach John Plumtree has basically banged his foot down pretty hard, shattering the awkward silence.
The New Zealand-born mastermind’s decisive, and arguably brave action in restricting the veteran front-ranker to the bench for the franchise’s probable date with Super Rugby 2011 destiny - relying instead on another ageing soldier in Stefan Terblanche to lead the troops into battle against the Bulls at Loftus and preferring Bismarck du Plessis as his starting hooker - must have sent some form of shockwave or at least consternation through the Springbok hierarchy as well.
Bluntly, Plumtree has almost certainly signalled, as his team reaches a crossroads in their quest to retain interest in this year’s competition, that he does not consider Smit “up to it” at present for such a seismic encounter when ordinarily a Bok incumbent captain would surely be viewed as a rich asset to the cause.
And it is difficult, frankly, to imagine that the majority of the South African rugby public, whether they are Sharks-partial or not, would have violently taken issue with Plumtree’s step.
Into the heat of the engine room against the Bulls’ ever-earthy pack, where there will be no room for the faint-hearted, instead goes a front row comprising Beast Mtawarira, Du Plessis and his fit-again brother Jannie at tighthead.
It is a trio whom lots of analysts, deep down, may fancy is also the best to serve the Boks in Test activity this year, including the World Cup in New Zealand from September.
Forget all the polite, often copout talk about “rotation” and so on ... Smit has not exactly been over-stretched in game-time this year, so in this case it seems far more pertinent to surmise that Plumtree, when push finally came to shove, believed there was simply no justification for a starting berth for the 33-year-old anywhere across his front row right now.
Instead Smit - whose outstanding leadership skills ought not be subjected to any fresh doubt, of course - is with his men in spirit only from the outset of the sold-out derby, rooted as he is to the bench.
Even there, his status is open to some question: far more of a “grapple and grunt” customer in the advanced stages of his career than he is a tearaway when games have loosened up, just how much impact can a player of his constitution actually bring in the last half-hour or so?
Perhaps he might do so as a pair of fresh legs and muscles on the propping front, but he is supposedly intended as the lone designated hooker reserve at Loftus, considering that Wiehahn Herbst is another front-rower available among the substitutes.
Observers in the outside world must be looking on with some bemusement: if the Springbok captain cannot find a place in a run-on XV for a crucial Super Rugby meeting, just how suited – and just as importantly primed – will he be to start crunch encounters at the business end of a World Cup?
They could not be blamed if they began speculating, either, that South Africa sit on a hot potato, when it comes to Smit, that only gets hotter ... and one that could even have a telling impact on the defending champions’ fortunes at the global gathering.
Just as dangerously, as far as Smit’s credentials to be first-choice hooker for the Boks are concerned, Saturday in Pretoria now sees Du Plessis go quite appealingly head-to-head with Chiliboy Ralepelle, the likely third hooker to represent South Africa in the World Cup party.
The very fact that he has held off Gary Botha for the run-on No 2 role for the Bulls on this occasion (though granted, Frans Ludeke has pretty consistently alternated them during the campaign) speaks volumes about 24-year-old Ralepelle’s strides this season, finally blessed as he has been by a solid stint of rugby injury-free.
Increasingly, on pure hooking ability and with captaincy issues set well aside for a moment, the Springboks’ best options in the jersey for the international season ahead seem to be Du Plessis as the starter, with the mobile, up-tempo, increasingly “involved” Ralepelle as the back-up injection off the bench.
Of course, however compellingly either - or both - of Du Plessis and Ralepelle battle each other at Loftus, Bok coach Peter de Villiers is likely to stick rigidly to his belief that Smit is the right call at No 2 for the nation’s cause.
Besides, it not yet out of the question, either, that Smit, along with other long-serving warhorses of South African rugby, will crank their machines ever more smartly into competent action as the Test calendar looms larger.
But for the moment John Plumtree’s “Smittie snub”, which would probably not have been a course lightly taken by him, seems to make a disconcerting amount of sense ...
Cape Town - There’s been lots of tiptoeing around the issue of John Smit’s justification in pure playing terms to lead South Africa in this World Cup year as defending champions ... but suddenly Sharks coach John Plumtree has basically banged his foot down pretty hard, shattering the awkward silence.
The New Zealand-born mastermind’s decisive, and arguably brave action in restricting the veteran front-ranker to the bench for the franchise’s probable date with Super Rugby 2011 destiny - relying instead on another ageing soldier in Stefan Terblanche to lead the troops into battle against the Bulls at Loftus and preferring Bismarck du Plessis as his starting hooker - must have sent some form of shockwave or at least consternation through the Springbok hierarchy as well.
Bluntly, Plumtree has almost certainly signalled, as his team reaches a crossroads in their quest to retain interest in this year’s competition, that he does not consider Smit “up to it” at present for such a seismic encounter when ordinarily a Bok incumbent captain would surely be viewed as a rich asset to the cause.
And it is difficult, frankly, to imagine that the majority of the South African rugby public, whether they are Sharks-partial or not, would have violently taken issue with Plumtree’s step.
Into the heat of the engine room against the Bulls’ ever-earthy pack, where there will be no room for the faint-hearted, instead goes a front row comprising Beast Mtawarira, Du Plessis and his fit-again brother Jannie at tighthead.
It is a trio whom lots of analysts, deep down, may fancy is also the best to serve the Boks in Test activity this year, including the World Cup in New Zealand from September.
Forget all the polite, often copout talk about “rotation” and so on ... Smit has not exactly been over-stretched in game-time this year, so in this case it seems far more pertinent to surmise that Plumtree, when push finally came to shove, believed there was simply no justification for a starting berth for the 33-year-old anywhere across his front row right now.
Instead Smit - whose outstanding leadership skills ought not be subjected to any fresh doubt, of course - is with his men in spirit only from the outset of the sold-out derby, rooted as he is to the bench.
Even there, his status is open to some question: far more of a “grapple and grunt” customer in the advanced stages of his career than he is a tearaway when games have loosened up, just how much impact can a player of his constitution actually bring in the last half-hour or so?
Perhaps he might do so as a pair of fresh legs and muscles on the propping front, but he is supposedly intended as the lone designated hooker reserve at Loftus, considering that Wiehahn Herbst is another front-rower available among the substitutes.
Observers in the outside world must be looking on with some bemusement: if the Springbok captain cannot find a place in a run-on XV for a crucial Super Rugby meeting, just how suited – and just as importantly primed – will he be to start crunch encounters at the business end of a World Cup?
They could not be blamed if they began speculating, either, that South Africa sit on a hot potato, when it comes to Smit, that only gets hotter ... and one that could even have a telling impact on the defending champions’ fortunes at the global gathering.
Just as dangerously, as far as Smit’s credentials to be first-choice hooker for the Boks are concerned, Saturday in Pretoria now sees Du Plessis go quite appealingly head-to-head with Chiliboy Ralepelle, the likely third hooker to represent South Africa in the World Cup party.
The very fact that he has held off Gary Botha for the run-on No 2 role for the Bulls on this occasion (though granted, Frans Ludeke has pretty consistently alternated them during the campaign) speaks volumes about 24-year-old Ralepelle’s strides this season, finally blessed as he has been by a solid stint of rugby injury-free.
Increasingly, on pure hooking ability and with captaincy issues set well aside for a moment, the Springboks’ best options in the jersey for the international season ahead seem to be Du Plessis as the starter, with the mobile, up-tempo, increasingly “involved” Ralepelle as the back-up injection off the bench.
Of course, however compellingly either - or both - of Du Plessis and Ralepelle battle each other at Loftus, Bok coach Peter de Villiers is likely to stick rigidly to his belief that Smit is the right call at No 2 for the nation’s cause.
Besides, it not yet out of the question, either, that Smit, along with other long-serving warhorses of South African rugby, will crank their machines ever more smartly into competent action as the Test calendar looms larger.
But for the moment John Plumtree’s “Smittie snub”, which would probably not have been a course lightly taken by him, seems to make a disconcerting amount of sense ...
