Injury leaves coach Peter de Villiers with call to make on John Smit

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers faces a crucial decision for Saturday’s Test against England at Twickenham following an injury to hooker Bismarck du Plessis against Scotland at the weekend.

Du Plessis hobbled off the field after five minutes against the Scots, forcing skipper John Smit to return to hooker from his new position of tighthead prop. Brian Mujati came off the bench to anchor the scrum as the Boks staggered to a 14-10 win.

From that moment the scrums creaked and wobbled and with Du Plessis on the doubtful list and the monstrous England pack waiting in London, De Villiers has to make a call on what to do with Smit.

This tour was supposed to be a chance for the captain to gain international experience at tighthead for the 2009 British Lions series. And after a superb performance at No3 against Wales last week, it looked like the experiment was a success. All that was needed was for Smit to enjoy more game time in the position.

But with Du Plessis unlikely to be fit, the obvious choice is to move Smit back to hooker and bring Chiliboy Ralepelle onto the bench. The more extreme option would be to leave Smit at tighthead and start Ralepelle at hooker against England.

That would be a huge gamble because Ralepelle has only started one game all season. He did come off the bench for the Blue Bulls in the Currie Cup final and looked dangerous, but England at home are a different proposition.

There might be some temptation to fly in hooker Adriaan Strauss from South Africa, but that would send out the wrong signal about Ralepelle being on the tour in the first place.

Mujati was poor and is likely to struggle against the massive Andrew Sheridan at Twickenham. The Boks’ management might even be tempted to call either World Cup-winning tightheads CJ van der Linde or BJ Botha into the squad. Both players are based in Ireland and could hook up with the touring party in hours if they get clearance from their clubs.

Scrumhalf Fourie du Preez’s fitness is also in doubt after he withdrew with a a quadricep strain on Thursday after being named to start against Scotland. Ricky Januarie looks overweight and was not the sharp player we saw in the Tri-Nations.

Prop Gurthro Steenkamp is also on the injured list, leaving even fewer options in the front row. Jannie du Plessis, the official replacement on the short list, might have to be flown in.

Team manager Arthob Petersen said: “We are taking a look at the toll caused by the efforts we have put in during the recent matches, and we will make a decision on where we go to from here on Monday [today].”

Craig Ray

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