Skinstad to captain SA 'Crocked' XV

The number of potential Springbok captains who are not playing Super 12 this weekend may give some indication of the problem that new coach Rudolf Straeuli may face when he considers his options for the first test against Wales on June 8.

Indeed, with Mark Andrews now returned home to recover from an injury, there are enough players either injured or just making their way back for Straeuli to draw up a near test strength team made up of players not currently available.

Straeuli spoke after his appointment as Bok coach of his desire to use form as the main criterion. But he also said that he wanted to give the injured players as much of an opportunity as possible to prove themselves.

He referred specifically to Bob Skinstad, the incumbent skipper who is missing from action at the moment as he recovers from a shoulder operation. Yet there are several other players that he may need in the June tests who are at the moment on the indisposed list - Rassie Erasmus, Trevor Halstead, Breyton Paulse, Robbie Fleck being just a few.

Obviously some of the injured players will return in time to prove themselves in the Super 12. But several of them will get only a limited opportunity, which does leave Straeuli with a potential problem.

The new coach hinted in newspaper interviews that he may be prepared to create an opportunity for these players to stake a claim. Presumably by that he meant an extra match during which he can take a good look at his options. He did not call it a trial match, but in essence that is what it would be.

I can already hear the howls of protest from players who already feel they are overworked. They would perhaps rightly point out that it is because of their hectic schedule that so many are injured at the moment.

But hang on, let's be realistic about this. How many South African teams are going to make the Super 12 semi-finals this year? It would be a surprise if any of them got through to the last four. And even if one did, there would be enough Springbok candidates left over kicking their heels for the almost four weeks that seperates the last Super 12 league game from the opening test matches.

Straeuli being the wise man that he is, he would probably see the sense in resting players that really need to be rested. Stormers captain Corne Krige, who will probably play all his team's Super 12 matches, is one who will probably deserve a rest come the end of May.

But there are so many guys injured at the moment, and so many players who will still sit out a few weeks with injury, that Straeuli may be justified if he argues that the South Africans need an extra game.

The All Blacks do it with their traditional season opener between the All Blacks and a New Zealand B team.

We don't need to go that far. We don't even need to play a Springbok team in the match. For Straeuli to fulfill his intentions of looking at talent that he has not seen play enough in the Super 12, he need only select a "Crocked XV" made up of players who were out of action in the third or fourth weeks of Super 12.

Maybe they can play against a team made up of players who perhaps weren't allowed a fair shake by their Super 12 selectors. Or a combination of players drawn from the Vodacom Cup. If no SA team makes the Super 12 semis, then they can play a SA Invitation team made up of the best local players in the competition.

I am going to cheat and include Butch James, who will not be back in time for the Welsh tests, and Andre Vos, who is no longer available for Bok selection, in my team. But even if he ignored those players, which of course he would have to do in James' case, the combination that Straeuli could come up with would be strong enough to be the equal of several of the sides that Harry Viljoen put into the field last year.

The only problem area is fullback. There is a temptation to include Chris Rossouw, the injured Stormers flyhalf, in the No15 jersey as until 18 months ago that was the only position he had ever played.

Gaffie du Toit is being "rested" this weekend, but on the basis that the word is probably really a euphemism for "axed", he should not qualify for this selection.

In the end though, because he would probably have been Heyneke Meyer's first choice had he been fit, we will probably have to settle for Johan Roets of the Northern Bulls.

The only other area of potential weakness is hooker, but injured Stormers hooker Pieter Dixon has played for the Junior Boks. We cannot include Lukas van Biljon as his injury is expected to be of a very temporary nature.

Though they have yet to play together, the centre combination of Trevor Halstead and Robbie Fleck would not let the Boks down at test level. If we had to, we could shift Butch James to inside centre - there are several who say that would be his best position - and play Rossouw at flyhalf.

As there are not too many locks apart from Andrews on the injured list, Andre Venter will have to accept that he plays this game in the second row. There again, he has played enough games there for South Africa for him to be used to it by now.

The choice of captain would be an interesting one. Andrews and Erasmus have good records captaining Super 12 teams. Andre Vos has captained South Africa.

But seeing he is the current Springbok leader, who better than Skinstad to lead the Boks into action (yes, I do consider him good enough to play ahead of Joe van Niekerk, who is another one of those injured players).

Here is my SA Crocked XV, with potential alternatives in brackets:

Johan Roets (Chris Rossouw), Breyton Paulse, Robbie Fleck, Trevor Halstead, Deon Kayser, Butch James (Rossouw), Joost van der Westhuizen (Neil de Kock), Bob Skinstad (captain), Rassie Erasmus, Andre Vos, Andre Venter, Mark Andrews, Robbie Kempson, Pieter Dixon, Toks van der Linde.