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Schalk Brits has named the player he thinks should replace Snyman in the Springboks squad

(Photo by Juan Jose Gasparini/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Schalk Brits has backed Lions lock Marvin Orie to fill the void in the Springboks ranks created by the serious knee injury that will rule RG Snyman out of the sport for at least six months, removing one of the key elements from the World Cup-winning ‘bomb squad’.

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Snyman suffered an ACL tear seven minutes into his Munster debut last month and with the Springboks possibly becoming the eighth team to compete in a one-off November tournament in Europe, finding another second row option will be crucial. 

The second row giant was a member of the so-called Springbok ‘bomb squad’, the eight replacements who played such a key role in helping to defeat England in the 2019 World Cup final in Yokohama.

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RugbyPass brings you Bringing Home Gold, a look back on the South African 2019 World Cup win in the company of Schalk Brits

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RugbyPass brings you Bringing Home Gold, a look back on the South African 2019 World Cup win in the company of Schalk Brits

Brits – a member of that cup-winning squad – believes the player to replace Snyman is Orie, the 27-year-old lock from the Lions who has won three caps and recently spent a period on loan at the Ospreys. 

Moving Pieter-Step du Toit, the World Rugby player of the year for 2019, from flanker to lock is also an option for the Springboks, who are now coached by Jacques Nienaber after Rassie Erasmus moved into the role of SA Rugby’s director of rugby.

Brits isn’t convinced du Toit wants to move into the second row and become an option alongside the World Cup trio of Lood de Jager (Sale), Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) and Franco Mostert (Honda Heat). He told RugbyPass: “Marvin was involved when we were preparing for the World Cup and as there hasn’t been a lot of training, it is a natural decision to bring him into the squad. I don’t know if Pieter-Steph wants to play lock anymore but he is so versatile he can play any role.

“There are other locks who will be looking to impress and JD Schickerling (Stormers) went on the end of year tour a couple of years ago. My own view is that they will pull in Marvin and then it would be quite a surprise if they didn’t use Pieter-Steph as an extra combination. 

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“My prediction is they will have the same Springbok squad as at the World Cup. There is talk about trying to have a tournament with Australia and New Zealand but how do you practically do that at the moment? 

“There is also talk of South Africa being part of the eight-team tournament in Europe in November but some of the players are in Japan having to quarantine and then they would have to quarantine again if they leave. Domestically, they are hoping to start up in a couple of weeks here but it’s still up in the air.”

Brits is currently preparing for the greatest challenge of his sporting life, joining fellow Springbok hookers Hanyani Shimange and 2007 World Cup-winning captain John Smit in helping to raise £4.4million for the families of medical staff killed fighting Covid-19 in South Africa.

Brits, Shimange and Smit will this weekend pull a cart loaded with provisions 200kms across the unforgiving dry salt pans of the Verneukpan in the Northern Cape which were used in 1929 by Malcolm Campbell in his unsuccessful attempt to break the land speed record in his Napier-Campbell Blue Bird.

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Brits and his fellow hookers will not be trying to break any speed records. They are just looking to emerge victorious against teams from soccer, running and cricket in one of the biggest fundraising initiatives in South African history. 

The initial aim was to raise 100m Rand (£4.4m) to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers but it has been decided the money will also go to support the families of those who have died while tackling the pandemic.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CCT8pLZJ21z/

Taking time away from his preparations to avoid the scorpions and puff adders that are prevalent in the Verneukpan, the former Saracens hooker said: “The three of us are walking 200kms and this is right at the top of my sporting challenges. 

“I’m more scared about the natural elements out there. It’s no fun with blisters, rashes and pulling the cart a long way. Originally it was planned to be in a game reserve in Botswana and then because of Covid-19, they moved it locally to the middle of nowhere. 

“The plan was to help with PPE but in South Africa, we have had a lot of deaths in the medical fraternity and we are trying to raise as much money as possible for families who have lost loved ones who are the real heroes. 

“They went to work knowing they could lose their life and that is the biggest reason for doing this. Butch James is captain of the team and my biggest worry is the guys are going to eat the food we are carrying before we get to the finish line.

“They are big human beings with big appetites. We’re sleeping out and the cart weighs 200kgs. My plan is to sit on the cart and ensure that John and Hanyani are at the right 45 degree angle to pull us forward.”

BATTLE OF THE SPORTS TEAMS

Cricket: Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini, Monde Zondeki – managed by Jonty Rhodes

Rugby: Hanyani Shimange, John Smit, Schalk Brits – managed by Butch James

Running: Bongmusa Mthembu, David Gatebe, Nick Bester – managed by Bruce Fordyce

Soccer: Matthew Booth, Siyabonga Nomvethe, Teko Modise – managed by Neil Tovey

 

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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