Fired-up Vishuis ready for action
Jan Earle, the coach of the Steinhoff Vishuis team, believes his 'boytjies' are now a better team than the one that won the Kovsies Koshuisliga last year.
Vishuis have lost only three players from last year's team that triumphed over Heimat in the final to win the Kovsies Steinhoff Koshuisliga for the first time since 1983.
Earle was speaking on the eve of Vishuis' opening (away) encounter with Steinhoff Dagbreek in the 2010 Steinhoff Koshuisliga that is now in its third year.
Dagbreek, from the Maties, were the the inaugural champions in 2008 when the tournament were held over a few days in George, with Shimlas side, Huis Armentum, romping to the 2009 title.
Looking at the Vishuis side for 2010, Jan du Toit (flyhalf/centre), Dries Ludeke (wing) and Waldo Krogh (center and captain) will not be playing for the Men in Black anymore, but they have a few new guys who Earle is very exited about.
"Inside centre Francios van Straaten and left-wing Beyers Louw are two first-year students, in our hostel, whom I believe will do well in the competition," he told this website.
"One should also look out for scrumhalf Enrico Acker who is a very dangerous player. His flyhalf, Willem Conradie, is experienced and is a good communicator and likes to take control.
"Our forward pack will be the key for us again this year and I'm confident they'll perform well. Our captain Jos de Klerk (flank) is our 'go-to man', while Ryno Fourie returns after sitting out the entire year in 2009 with a injury."
Fourie is, according to Earle, very good on the ground - such a key player in any team nowadays as Springbok star Heinrich Brüssow proved last year.
No.8 Gerhard Meyer, who captained the team initially last year before playing in Scotland for a few months, is also back for more and he, together with lock Willam Clift, will be the hard, aggressive men up front.
Quite amazingly, also, Earle has the privilege to select ten players that formed part of last year's Free State Under-19 squad that won the national (Currie Cup) competition.
Of the whole Vishuis squad for the 2010 season, only Niel Kapp (eightman) and Richard Harris (prop) are presently unavailable due to injuries. But when they return, they will strengthen the side.
"I am very pleased how our warm-up games went," the coach said.
"All our set-phases are solid, it's now just a case of getting familiar with the specific gameplan I have in mind. If we can get that functioning to perfection, it will go well."
The Steinhoff Vishuis team: 15 AJ Coertzen, 14 Bennie Pretorius, 13 Barend Landman, 12 Francios van Straaten, 11 Beyers Louw, 10 Willem Conradie, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Gerhard Meyer 7 Jos de Klerk (captain), 6 Ryno Fourie, 5 Jaco Lamprecht, 4 William Clift, 3 JP van Rooyen, 2 Cobus van der Westhuizen, 1 Micheal van Vuuren.
Replacements: 16 Martin Ferreira, 17 John-Henry Harris, 18 Henri van Niekerk, 19 JC Astle, 20 Eben van Zyl, 21 Erick Colyn, 22 Waldo Lategan.
Head coach: Jan Earle
Date: Monday, February 22
Venue: Danie Craven Stadium
Kick-off: 6pm
By Ruan Bruwer