Barry recalled to the Boks
Snyman, Fourie will know on Monday
Hard-hitting Stormers captain and centre De Wet Barry has been called into the Springbok squad ahead of next Saturday's clash against France at Newlands.
Thirty-eight-Test veteran Barry – who has not figured at Test level this season – has been added to the squad as a precautionary measure, after evergreen back André Snyman picked up a wrist injury against Scotland in Port Elizabeth at the weekend.
Whilst there was some speculation that Snyman – who started the game at outside centre – had in fact broken his wrist, Bok coach Jake White was not sure what was wrong with him after the match.
The official word from the Bok camp on Sunday, however, was that Snyman had suffered a "soft tissue injury" to his wrist, with Barry, at this stage, joining the squad "as a precautionary measure only".
More will be revealed at noon on Monday, when the Boks host their first press conference of the week.
Injury aside, Snyman – who was brought back from Leeds Tykes in England to challenge for a place in the South African World Cup squad – would have been hard-pressed to retain his place in the Bok line-up, with White saying on Saturday that regular No.13 Jaque Fourie "was feeling fine". (Fourie suffered a freak rib injury at training last week.)
"His (Fourie's) rib has calcified," added White, "which means it's healing. I'm hoping to have him back"
But when asked about Snyman's indifferent showing against the Scots (his second in as many weeks), White continued: "To be fair to him, he's trying as hard as he can, but he's played in two different backlines in two different positions [in two weeks]. He runs hard and could be the type of player we could utilise in the northern hemisphere, so I'm not prepared to write him off just yet."
Interestingly enough, White moved Snyman out to the wing during Saturday's 29-15 win over Scotland, with try-scoring machine Bryan Habana shifting to outside centre, giving him the option of pairing the Bulls duo of Wynand Olivier and Habana, at centre, against the French.
"Habana is good at either 11 or 13," said White when quizzed about the positional switch.
Another midfield option, of course, is to bring back local lad Barry against the physical French, who warmed up for their clash against the Boks with a 62-14 win over Romania, in Bucharest, on Saturday.
Word on the street is that the French will play powerhouse Biarritz star Damien Traille at flyhalf, with Yannick Jauzion and Florian Fritz at centre – a very physical 10-12-13 axis, which could necessitate the more experienced Barry starting at No.12 ahead of Olivier, who has just two Test caps to his credit. Olivier could then move out one place to outside centre, should Fourie still be unavailable for selection.
White is expected to name his starting line-up on Wednesday, but he also confirmed on Saturday evening that Bulls lock Bakkies Botha and Sharks utility back Brent Russell had also re-entered the selection frame for this week.
By Howard Kahn
