Springbok captain John Smit’s participation in Saturday’s big clash with the high-riding B lues is in the balance

Springbok captain John Smit’s participation in Saturday’s big clash with the high-riding Blues is in the balance, the same goes for another Springbok JP Pietersen, as well as openside flank Jacques Botes, but the good news is that scrumhalf Charl McLeod should be good to go.

Smit pulled out of the Super Rugby opener against the Cheetahs at the last minute because of a calf injury; Pietersen suffered a hamstring injury in training a fortnight ago, McLeod limped off against the Cheetahs with his own calf problem while Botes bruised his hip against a Cheetahs head and was replaced early on by Keegan Daniel, who might well have started if he was not coming off his own back injury.

“John has a grade one calf strain (which is relatively minor) so there is possibility of him playing this weekend,” coach John Plumtree said. “We are working hard to get him right but if it is not this week he should be fine for the (opening) tour match against the Force (next week’s third-round match). It depends how fast he heals. He is a big man and there is a fair amount of weight coming down on those calves!”

PLumtree said that McLeod had responded well to treatment.

“He is a fast healer. He was sore on Sunday but has responded very well to treatment and he should be okay by Saturday,” Plumtree said.

If he does not make it, former Stormer Conrad Hoffman will step in and the back-up on the bench would be Tiaan Meyer, the former Sharks age group player that has been loaned from the Pumas.

“JP has a good chance of playing and Jacques is also responding well, but obviously we will be clearer on all these niggles later in the week,” Plumtree added.

Having reflected on the match video, Plumtree said he was generally pleased with his team’s effort in trying conditions.

“I would say there were more positives than negatives and let’s face it, the Cheetahs are a team that fancy their chances of beating us. We hear a lot about how they have beaten us over the years but they don’t mention the defeats nearly as much,” Plumtree said, having a subtle dig.

“The areas we were not so good in included the line-outs; and we did not launch well (from set pieces) which meant we struggled to get momentum going,” he said. “Among the positives were our discipline (just six penalties), our scrumming, much of our kicking and our defence – although the nature of the game (the slippery conditions and the large amount of kicking) meant we were not overly stressed on defence.

“But we expect to make at least triple the tackles this week against the Blues,” Plumtree added.

The Aucklanders arrived in Durban yesterday fresh from having beaten the seven-time champion Crusaders at Eden Park. They are the first touring team to scorn either Umhlanga Rocks or the beach front for a hotel at Gateway, and they will train at Crawford College at La Lucia.

www.iol.co.za by Mike Greenaway