It appears as if Allister Coetzee is going to stick with Adriaan Strauss as the Springbok captain until he retires at the end of the year.
Now that you have regained your breath from the shock of that opening paragraph, we will only know for sure on Wednesday at 7pm whether the Bok coach is going to retain Strauss as the skipper for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against the Wallabies in Brisbane.
But in an interview with SuperSport TV this week, Coetzee was quite clear on the matter when he explained why he chose Strauss as the captain.
“At the beginning of the year, he stood out as a leader. He stood out in the sense that he selected himself, and it was like an ongoing discussion. If he wasn’t playing good enough – that was the main thing – if he wasn’t playing good enough, then he wouldn’t want to be a leader,” Coetzee said.
“And for the sake of consistency and continuity in the squad, that was the right choice at the time. And it is still the right choice.”
That last line is likely to mean that Strauss is going to run out in front again at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday despite his poor form and the Boks’ lacklustre performances this season.
The logical choice to take over from Strauss immediately would be Lions skipper Warren Whiteley, an inspirational figure who has the game and the tactical appreciation to become a fine Bok captain.
He took the Lions all the way to the Super Rugby final this year, and is someone who is able to lead by example and with his words.
But is he the best No 8 in South Africa? On current form, he is. That the Bok captain needs to be automatic selection as a player goes without saying, but that’s not always the case in this country – read John Smit versus Bismarck du Plessis.
However, there are reasonable concerns that could be raised against Whiteley’s appointment. He is only starting in Coetzee’s team at No 8 because Duane Vermeulen is injured. Vermeulen missed the last Ireland Test with an elbow problem, and then hurt his knee while on club duty for his French side Toulon a week before the first Argentina Test in Nelspruit.
It’s a tough selection call to make if Vermeulen is at his best anyway, but clearly Coetzee favours his former Stormers leader at No 8 for the Boks.
And what about Nizaam Carr and Sikhumbuzo Notshe? They are both currently injured, but again, when in form, are strong contenders at the back of the scrum.
Whiteley, who will turn 29 later this month, has just eight Test caps to his name. Yes, someone like Francois Pienaar was appointed Bok captain on debut, but while Whiteley has had some wonderful moments this year – with his side-stepping try against Ireland at Ellis Park the highlight – he hasn’t quite replicated his Super Rugby form at Test level yet.
There is no doubt that he has all the skills to become the leading No 8 in world rugby, but he still has to get there. So why not allow him to do that without the extra pressure of captaining a battling Springbok team?
That is why Bryan Habana would be the ideal choice as Springbok captain at least until the end of the year. Habana has seen and done it all in Test rugby, and was recently appointed as the official vice-captain.
His 119 Test caps will hold him in good stead to lead the Boks out of the quagmire, starting with Saturday’s Test in Brisbane. Habana was arguably the best South African player in the 26-24 defeat to Argentina in Salta – he was typically busy all over the field on attack and defence, and showed good anticipation to pick up Francois Louw’s wonderful offload to score his SA record 65th try.
And I don’t agree with the general reservations about a wing being the captain. Habana may not have captained a team at provincial level, but he will have the respect of every player in the squad and has the communication skills to get his message across and carry out the coach’s instructions.
He has an excellent relationship with Coetzee too from their years together at the Boks and Stormers, and having turned 33 in June this year, Habana is not about to hang up his boots at least until next year. He is also a definite first-choice selection, especially with Seabelo Senatla out until next season.
In that time, Whiteley can establish himself as the first-choice No 8 in Coetzee’s eyes, and who knows, he could even become the captain in 2017.
But for the rest of the Rugby Championship and at least until the end-of-year tour to Europe, Bryan Gary Habana should be the 18th Springbok captain since readmission in 1992.