Time to look left field

The unfortunate injury to Conrad Jantjes could on one level be a lot more problematic than a lot of people realise, but on another it could force a solution to the biggest dilemma facing Springbok coach Peter de Villiers ahead of the series against the British and Irish Lions.

Let’s start at the first issue, which is of course transformation. Like it or not, De Villiers is under pressure to make the Springbok team as representative of the demographics of this country as it can possibly be. Memories are surely not so short that we can forget the huff caused by some politicians when last year he dropped Ricky Januarie and Jantjes for the first game of the home leg of the Tri-Nations.

Up until a few weeks ago Jantjes would not have been assured of a place in the Bok starting team. That was when Adrian Jacobs was fit, healthy and playing well. Jaque Fourie was in excellent form too, and to my mind, he was the best centre in the country.

There was a push by the Bok management to find a solution to the conundrum caused by having two such fine players competing for the same position. That was why Fourie was mentioned as a possible fullback, a position where he played in his youth and where he made his debut for the Lions as a 19-year-old.

The official word from the Sharks is that Jacobs is up and running again and available for selection after the shoulder injury that two weeks ago had medical people advising an operation. But for how long is he going to be available? My information is that there were two courses of action open to Jacobs: a) he could undergo the operation, which was the preferred course of the specialists, or b) he could gamble on being fit for the Lions by playing through the injury with the help of injections.

The latter course appears to have been opted for in this instance, but it is not as if the Sharks are particularly optimistic that it will be a lasting solution. If that franchise boasted the backline depth it did a year or two ago, it is unlikely they would have been as ready to take the gamble they appear to have now.

Even if Jacobs manages to survive through to the Lions series with his shoulder in a passable condition, I am not entirely confident about the prospects of him playing in such an important series while essentially not 100%.

So while most critics would agree that the Sharks fullback Stefan Terblanche has been far and away the best South African in that position in the Super 14, even before Jantjes’s injury, De Villiers faces a potential political backlash if he just makes a straight swop. It would leave the team with just three black players (Pietersen, Habana and Beast).

This is why Zane Kirchner is being mentioned as a likely replacement, but I think that De Villiers might be well advised to go a bit more left field than that (well, left field according to his critics, but probably not to him) and consider the merits of a player who could kill two birds with one stone.

When I bring up the name of Earl Rose my friends, some of them high up in the coaching business, are going to think I have taken leave of my senses. One of them even told me as much when I suggested it to him earlier in the week. After all, last year when Rose played fullback against the Sharks in a Currie Cup final, his opponents successfully exploited him as a weakness.

But Rose IS a good rugby player, and most importantly he does have the ability to kick goals and thus back up the probable first choice flyhalf Ruan Pienaar. If he plays to instructions, he also has the long field kick that will help the Boks keep the tourists pinned in their own half.

Yes, it would be a gamble, but De Villiers appears set to ignore the attributes of South Africa’s current in-form Super 14 flyhalf, Morne Steyn, and for me that is already a gamble as it will leave the team short of a goalkicker. Selecting Rose will at least help solve that problem. And I am not sure there is that much separating him from Jantjes when it comes to fullback...