Fez Mbatha of the Sharks during the 2023 Currie Cup match between Lions and Sharks at the Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg on the 01 April 2023 ©Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix
Wanted: Springboks’ hookers for the Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia.
That is probably one of the most important sticky notes that will be going up in the offices of Rassie Erasmus and the rest of the Springboks coaches when looking at the new franchise rugby season and the important positions in the Bok squad they’ll have to fill.
For several local-based hookers looking to catch the eye of the Springbok boss and his assistants to get a foot in the door for the 2027 World Cup, this will be a vital season of Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship competition ahead.
While South Africa are blessed with an abundance of talent in almost every position on the pitch, the toughest role to fill ahead of the 2027 tournament in Australia will probably be that of hooker.
Malcolm Marx will be 33 by then – and will definitely still be ready to rumble Down Under.
But the Boks’ other beast that played his heart out in France under immense pressure, Bongi Mbonambi, will be 36. Mbonambi’s experience will be vital, but he is fighting against Father Time to make it.
And with Deon Fourie already in his late 30s, there’s no chance of him making it to a second World Cup in four years.
That is why those next in line have the perfect opportunity to impress Erasmus and his coaches, especially in this season’s URC and Champions Cup. But who are those No 2s exactly?
Well, Stormers hooker Joseph Dweba, 26, was on the standby list for the World Cup, and even though he wasn’t called up after Marx’s injury, he will definitely come into play during next year’s international season.
So too Johan Grobbelaar, 25, at the Bulls, who has toured with the Boks before, but hasn’t made his debut yet.
They are probably the two local hookers closest to making the squad post-World Cup.
There are also a host of young hookers who will be looking to impress at their unions, like Fez Mbatha, 24 at the Sharks and the Stormers’ André-Hugo Venter, 22, and JJ Kotze, 23, – while Kerron van Vuuren, 28, (Sharks) and Akker van der Merwe, 32, at the Bulls will also want to add their names to the debate.
Mbatha has been invited to a Bok alignment camp before, but he hasn’t received consistent game-time for the Sharks, which could hamper his chances of breaking through at the top level – especially with Mbonambi set to return to the Durban side soon.
He’s also up against Van Vuuren, 28, for a place.
But Mbatha definitely fits the mould that the Boks will be looking for. He’s a fighter with ball-in-hand and powerful in defence.
Grobbelaar, being the Bulls’ first-choice No 2 by a country mile, should also be hot on the radar of Erasmus and Co. He’s consistent with a high work-rate around the pitch, and is an accurate lineout-thrower.
While he won’t let a team down, he can hopefully add another dimension to his game at the breakdowns and defensively to make the Bok coaches really look his way.
But it is probably time for the Boks to rope in those young hookers who can be groomed over the next two or three years building towards the World Cup in Australia.
Another hooker injury crisis must be avoided at all costs at Australia 2027. The Boks were in a way lucky that they had the experience of Fourie in France when his lineout work wasn’t up to scratch in the final, as he contributed enormously in defence and at the breakdown.
The gap Mbonambi and Marx will leave when they are unavailable is just too massive to gamble on, and that gap will be even greater to fill when they retire one day.
That is why it will be important to have that third and fourth-choice hooker at the ready next year already.
And among them, there will have to be someone in the mould of Mbonambi and Marx. The Springbok blueprint demands it, and hopefully sooner rather than later, that hooker or two will be ready to make that international step up.
@Leighton_K
Related Topics: