DAN’S YOUR MAN: ‘Midfielder Du Plessis deserves a Bok shot’
John Dobson says he still has high hopes of seeing his current Stormers captain and midfield yster Daniel du Plessis becoming a Springbok.
Du Plessis, whose dad Michael and uncles Carel and Willie all played for South Africa during the 1980s, has been a standout performer for the Stormers over the last three seasons.
Many Kaapse fans and Stormers boss Dobson reckon the versatile centre Du Plessis got a bit of a hard snub from Springbok selectors last year after not being considered as an injury replacement for Lukhanyo Am ahead of the Boks’ departure for last year’s World Cup in France.
But former coach Jacques Nienaber and current boss Rassie Erasmus made a left-field call – picking four scrumhalves – with Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Andre Esterhuizen the only midfield specialists in the 33-man squad.
This season Erasmus has given 11 players – including Stormers trio Andre-Hugo Venter, Ben-Jason Dixon and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu - their first taste of Test rugby, while Du Plessis again got snubbed.
But ahead of last week’s 28-17 loss to Glasgow Warriors in the URC, Dobson wysed of his Stormers skipper deserving a Bok kans: “I thought last season [and] maybe similar to Ruben [van Heerden] I thought [Dan] proved he is one of the best in the country operating in his position. But you know given where our Springboks record is [in terms of picking experience] and that we trust…
“I think another season like last and a run of games like he had last season, I think he is gonna [eventually] bust down the door.”
The Stormers boss, however, adds of how tough it is for the 29-year-old Du Plessis and many other players around the country to get a look-in at the Boks: “The [current] Springboks, it’s just a golden generation.
“A created one and not just something that fell off a tree and I know they are very concerned about or very focused on the amount of caps [a player must have], but hopefully Dan does well enough to burst his way through that door.”