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'He is one of the most underrated props in South Africa'

(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
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Western Province head coach John Dobson said he is excited to see what the experienced Alistair Vermaak will bring in Steven Kitshoff’s place in Saturday’s semifinal against the Sharks.

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WP suffered a huge blow when World Cup-winner Kitshoff ruled out due to COVID-19 protocols. Kitshoff has captained the team when Siya Kolisi has not been available this season, leading from the front as one of the top performers in the competition.

“It is statistically proven that Kitsie has been absolutely outstanding in this campaign,” said Dobson.

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“He stood in for Siya very well as skipper and he is definitely one of our most important players.

“I am comforted by Ali Vermaak being there, we have got a long relationship and I think he was unlucky not to be made a Springbok a couple of years ago.

“To my mind, he is one of the most underrated props in South Africa. So, to have Ali come in for Steven is brilliant.”

Kolisi said that the team are determined to give Kitshoff the chance to play in the final next week.

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“It is tough to miss a guy like Kitsie, who has been instrumental for this team.

“It is part of our motivation, playing at Newlands. We are closing the book here and we also want to make sure we give our best for Kitsie who has been great for the team, so we also want to give him another opportunity to play next week,” he said.

Kitshoff is not only a powerful scrummager, but his work rate around the park, especially at the breakdown, will also be missed.

“He will definitely be missed there [breakdowns] because he has been doing a whole lot of that and we saw it when the stats came out,” Kolisi added. “But I know we have guys who are capable of doing that.

“It’s not something that we really go for but there are some guys who are really good at it like he is.

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“There are other ways we plan on winning the ball back, so we will focus more on that.”

– Rugby365

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Phantom 31 minutes ago
Nations Championship: 'The data shows the north has finally caught up with the south'

Fact: the gap between the North and the South has narrowed considerably - that I get. However, determining that only selecting only Home grown players or playing in the home country is is the optimal strategy is a bit of a toss up and highly reliant on the economies of the home union. I do understand that England and to a lesser degree Ireland selects home based only. The top 14 is a massive threat to their domestic product. France would probably not be affected (the money is at home). Fiji, Argentina, Samoa, Italy and you could even argue Scotland have only benefitted from this. Their players either go overseas to learn at higher levels (Fiji, Samoa, Argentina) or players coming into their leagues to strengthen the home product and their National teams (Scotland, Italy, Japan).

South Africa used to limit its selection to the home based players, but the reality of a weak currency vs what players could earn oversees meant that you lost access to your best players at some stage of their careers, with very few exceptions. Kolbe left SA as he was considered too small for International Rugby (yes coaches/selectors view), but ironically in France he forced selectors to notice his endeavors and select him. He is only reaching 50 caps now despite being north of 30 - granted rotation and the odd injury also played a role, but for the most part it is having debuted or becoming a regular so late.



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