'He is still among the top three or four players in our fitness tests'
Bulls head coach Jake White has given a glowing report on veteran hooker Bismarck du Plessis, who starts this season's BKT URC season at the age of 38.
The hard-bitten hooker won his first Springboks' cap under White and he went on to make 78 appearances for South Africa. Indeed White would go on to coach him at the Cell C Sharks during their time in Super Rugby and at Montpellier in the Top 14.
“He’s worth his weight in gold,” White told the URC. “In his life, Bismarck has passed every test with flying colours. He got straight As in school, played first team water polo and went to three world cups. He’s the real deal.
“Can he throw better than most hookers? Yes. Does he still dominate in the scrum? Yes. Does he have an aura that people respect on the field? Yes.
“Even though he’s older than his teammates, he is still among the top three or four players in our fitness tests. Like Morne Steyn, he’s a real professional and a role model – you couldn’t ask for more in an older player.”
White happily admits that Bismarck will face stiff competition within the Bulls squad in the position from the likes of 24-year-old Johannes Grobbelaar and the 21-year-old Jan-Hendrik Wessels. “I think this will be a big challenge for Bismarck. But I’ve known him since he was 18 and I’ve coached him for South Africa, as the captain at the Sharks, in the Top 14 and now at the Bulls.
“It’s a wonderful position to be in as a coach. No one is writing him off. In his career, he’s passed all the physical challenges and still does, and he’s never backed down from an emotional challenge. That's why he has 79 Test caps and is a legend of South African rugby.”
But the value of the veteran's experience has proved vital for White, not least in their landmark 27-26 URC semi-final win over Leinster in the RDS last term.
“I had a gut feeling about Bismarck. I got a feeling that his presence (would be important) at the back end of the game - talking to the other players, controlling the scrums with the referee – and I thought he was outstanding.”
For his part, Du Plessis is loving his time in Pretoria. “Since I came to play for the Bulls, I have rediscovered my love for rugby,” Du Plessis said in an interview earlier this week.
“It’s probably because it reminds me of when I started at the Sharks - when I was a young player there, guys like Johan Ackermann and Percy Montgomery had a big influence on my career. I would like to give back, even if it is only a small contribution.”
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Skelton may be brought back for the Wallabies so that would be the only reason that may hinder Wilson. Easily the form, most skilful and game IQ of any Oz 8. Valentini’s best and favourite position is 6, but lineouts may be an issue with Skelton, Valentini and Wilson. Will be interesting what Schmidt goes for but for me Wilson should be picked on form. Schmidt rewards work rate, skill and consistency. All that glitters every so often won’t be in contention. Greely is one of those players that has a knack of making the right decision. A coach is going to love him because he knows week in week out he’s going to get the job done. The second try Greely wasn’t the guy who made the initial break it was Flook, Greely was at the bottom of the ruck when Flook was off along the sideline. Greely got up and made the effort to catch up with play but also read the play nicely and hit the pass from Campbell at pace and then held the pass beautifully to Ryan.
Go to commentsSharks deserved to be far further back by the last quarter. Their tackling was awful, their set pieces were disappointing, their defensive organization was poor (especially on the Kok side of the D line), they kept making unnecessary errors, and they never looked like cracking the Clermont defense during those first 60m. Masuku kept them in touch, with some help from the Clermont generosity on penalty opportunities. Agree with the writer of this article. It was belligerence, and ability to raise their pressure game just enough, that turned the last quarter into a Bok-style shutout. Clermont have a reputation of not playing the full 80m, and there was a bit of that for sure. But, quite often when the intensity of a team drops off in the last quarter credit is due to the opponent for tiring them out. At 60m, with the Kok try, you thought that just maybe the game was on. At 70m, with the Mapimpi contribution, one felt that Clermont were fading, while facing a team that would maintain the pressure game through the final whistle. Good win in the end, but the Sharks are still playing way below their potential. And with their resources, and a coach that has had enough time to figure things out, they are running out of excuses.
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