A changing of the guard

An interesting phenomenon of the last year of the Super 12 is the plethora of new faces that have appeared in the tournament.

With South Africa still to name a new Super 14 franchise and Australia already looking to man one in Perth a changing of the guard is taking place that suggests it is going to be harder that previously thought to put together two additional squads to play in the new competition.

For if fresh-faced youngsters are finding their way into the existing squads at the expense of veterans moving on who will be making up the numbers in the Super 14?

Although it has to be said that the overall standard of play in the 2005 Super 12 has been disappointing there has been a definite trend of younger players coming to the fore as coaches look to consolidate their squads for the future while there is also an indication that the greater involvement of national coaches (Jake White, Graham Henry and Eddie Jones) might be starting to have an impact on the composition of Super 12 teams two years ahead of the next Rugby World Cup in France.

Those of us who work on the SuperSport Zone’s coverage of the Super 12 have noticed how easy it has been to nominate a Newcomer of the Week for the SuperWrap feature with any number of candidates six weeks into the competition whereas in previous years this element was dropped after two or three rounds of the tournament.

The emergence of newcomers has been particularly evident among the locks with many young “skyscrapers” making their mark.

A youngster such as James Ryan of the Highlanders has seamlessly filled the void left by the departure of Simon Maling and is clearly an All Black in the making while in South Africa the most consistent No4 and 5 have been Boela du Plooy and Barend Pieterse of the Cats rather than more established players.

They are by no means the only beanpoles putting their size 12s about. The Waratahs have introduced Alex Kanaar, the Brumbies Allister Campbell, the Chiefs Sean Hohneck, the Blues Greg Rawlinson, the Reds Hugh McMeniman, the Bulls Francois van Schouwenburg while former SA under 21 players Gordon Gilfillan and Andries Bekker have been blooded by the Cats and Stormers respectively.

Flyhalf Jimmy Gopperth has shown himself to be a more than adequate replacement for the prolific David Holwell at the Hurricanes while Cameron McIntyre has done outstandingly for the Highlanders stepping into the big void left by Tony Brown and exacerbated by Nick Evans’ injury problems.

Luke McAlister has taken over the kicking duties from Carlos Spencer at the Blues and it seems this role has also been designated for Raun Pienaar at the Sharks.

Hookers such as Adam Freier at the Waratahs and Corey Flynn at the Crusaders seem to have reached first-choice status which is also the case for former bit players such as Tasesa Lavea (Blues) and Rico Gear (Crusaders).

Players such as Jean de Villiers of the Stormers, Bryan Habana of the Bulls, Conrad Smith of the Hurricanes and Jerome Kaino and Saimone Taumoepeau of the Blues, who came to the fore after the Super 12 last season and earned international caps, have shown that the confidence of the selectors was deserved in a year that has seen some franchises fielding markedly different teams.

Others who were not well known to us a year ago include Peter Hewat (although he is already 27!), Stephen Hoiles, Wycliff Palu, Gene Fairbanks, Sam Norton-Knight, Henari Veratau, Nick Williams, Isa Nacewa, Greg Holmes, Scott Daruda, Pierre Spies, Ruan Pienaar and Wian du Preez and if there is a concern it is that the four South Africa franchises seem to have fewer really top-class youngsters already in the mix.

We are assured by the like of Jake White that they are there, but had better hope that they are not auditioning for places in Perth!