John Smit: Best at hooker?
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One topic is dominating South African rugby columns ahead of Saturday's much-anticipated clash with Ireland: Should John Smit move back to hooker?
It's not a new debate, but following the South African scrumming performance against Italy on Saturday, the argument for Smit's return to the number two jersey has grown stronger than ever.
And for the first time, coach Peter de Villiers has hinted that he may be thinking along the same lines.
De Villiers experiment of converting his skipper into a tighthead - in order to make space for Bismarck du Plessis - has been well documented, but has had marginal success.
The Springboks scrum has struggled to assert itself with Smit packing down at prop and was once again going backwards against Italy, at least until Smit moved to hooker for the final quarter.
From the 60-minute mark, Smit packed down with BJ Botha and Beast Mtawarira either side of him and the Bok set piece looked the strongest it's been for many months.
After the game De Villiers admitted he had a couple of tough choices to make ahead of Saturday's Test at Croke Park
"I'm in a very favourable position considering I'll have Bismarck du Plessis available, while Adriaan Strauss started the last Test. But John was also good at hooker on Saturday," said De Villiers.
"I thought about my front row options all night on Saturday. I don't know what I'm going to do."
"Maybe next week I'll use John and Bismarck as hookers against Ireland."
"It's a nice problem to have, knowing that we can change things around,"
De Villiers has the luxury of being able to pick between South Africa's World-Cup winning tightheads with Botha back in the squad and CJ van der Linde fit again.
"Do I pick John or Bismarck at hooker? And if I pick John, should CJ or BJ be the tighthead? What a nice problem," de Villiers told Sport24.
Botha's return has been the catalyst for the rethinking around the Bok scrum. Despite having just a few hours at practice to get reacquainted with his former Sharks team-mate, Botha gelled with Smit immediately.
"It was like riding a bicycle," Botha said after the win in Udine.
"We got on the same wavelength quickly and gave them a few good scrums."
De Villiers admitted he was relieved to see his team co0me through the Italy Test after worrying about the scrum situation.
"When you come into these games the result is secondary to what you want to achieve," said De Villiers.
"We focused on scrums and our line-out work, driving from there and our line-out jumping, to see how it would work in the future. I think we achieved more than the result.
"I was a bit afraid coming into this game that psychologically [the scrummaging problems] would give more to the players than anything else.
"I know the ability of our scrums, I know that our players are world class, I know they can stand up for themselves under all circumstances and I think the last 20 minutes instilled that kind of confidence that we tried to bring over to them in practice."
Comments
Bokkegees says...
I agree with Rolf, PdV should be thinking 2011. A new captain should also be identified much earlier. Vic is my choice as he still has a few seasons in him. JS does not have the fire BdP has.
Posted 01:43 25th November 2009
rugbyphile says...
Smit at hooker for sure--Bismarck is good in the loose but gives away penalties and Smit's captaincy is essential. He isn't a top class prop--ok but not top class. Guys--the scrum doesn't only consist of the front row-important though they are. When Italy pushed the Boks backwards the loosies were already detaching instead of pushing--biggest but not the only culprit Kankowski--all forwards must maintain the push until the ball is out, and watch the difference.Thye Boks desperately need to restore parity at scrumtime with everyone-not just the weaker nations.
Posted 10:09 24th November 2009
ardugpc says...
Smit is not the best, but the team perform better when he's on hooker. A scrum going backwards puts pressure on the whole team. If it's a "weak" point having him on hooker, then so be it. He is a great captain, and we can't afford not to pick him.
Posted 09:38 24th November 2009
Beanskin says...
The Irish scrum is not as strong as other recent opposition, so Boks should start with Smit at prop and Bismarck at Hooker. Then, depending how it goes at scrum time, sub Bismarck for a prop later on moving Smit to Hooker.
Kanko should be held back, his rangy frame and pace is better suited to dry conditions and hard fields.
Posted 21:21 23rd November 2009
brianjar says...
This is a tough one. For a win against Ireland, I'd say start with BJ, Smit, Beast. Then, at 60, bring on Bismark, move Smit over to tighthead to keep him on the park and close it off. Then, bring on CJ for the Beast. Or, CJ first and Beast at 60. Sheesh, I'm glad I'm not the coach.
Posted 21:20 23rd November 2009
rolf says...
all too old. the boks need to develop a squad for 2011. if they continue bringning on the old guns, and not select the best players available, also thos abroad, they wont get anywhere in 2011. but down.
Posted 14:56 23rd November 2009
beninuk says...
John Smit for hooker! On the opposition ball the Bok scrum will be very powerfull with virtually three props in the front row.
Posted 14:38 23rd November 2009
LD_151 says...
Bok scrum not only gained parity but actually started to dominate once BJ went to TH and Smitty went to Hooker.
My Bok side for Ireland -
1. W Du Preez
2. J Smit
3. BJ Botha
4. B Botha
5. V Matfield
6. H Brussouw
7. J Deysel
8. D Rossouw
9. F Du Preez
10. M Steyn
11. B Habana
12. W Olivier
13. J Fourie
14. JP Pietersen
15. Z Kirchner
16. T Mtawarira
17. B Du Plessis
18. CJ V de Linde
19. A Bekker
20. S Burger
21. F Hougaard
22. R Pienaar
Posted 13:17 23rd November 2009
brendonl says...
John smit at Hooker for sure. When the change was made SA were not just going forward again they were hammering the Italian scrum. No question Bismark is a solid player but so is John Smit and he is in my mind the best captain in the world right now. Could even be one of the best captains of all time.
Posted 13:07 23rd November 2009