Schalk Brits has named the player he thinks should replace Snyman in the Springboks squad
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’.
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.
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.
Do the right thing #staysafe #StayAtHome so we can all go out again and enjoy our amazing country ??? @LandRoverZA pic.twitter.com/hl601VYYpv
— Schalk Brits (@SchalkBrits) April 7, 2020
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.
“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.
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.
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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.”
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
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments