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Januarie ready to 'fight for the right'

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 14:54

Fighting fit: Stormers scrumhalf Ricky Januarie

Seasoned Springbok scrumhalf Ricky Januarie, who returns to the Stormers starting line-up for Saturday's Super 14 pre-season friendly against Boland, is determined to regain the No.9 jersey - after playing off the bench in the latter stages of the Currie Cup last year.

Back from his off-season sojourn at Welsh club Ospreys, Januarie is one of the few Boks who will start for the Stormers against their Western Cape neighbours in the first rugby match at the new Cape Town Stadium.

Coach Allister Coetzee is resting the majority of his first-choice players, whom he believes got sufficient game-time against the Sharks and Western Force in the recent tri-series.

But it is Januarie who will be in the spotlight, as he gets a chance to show that he has benefited from the game-time he was afforded in tough European competitions like the Magners League and Heineken Cup.

And it is a chance he plans to grab with both hands.

"There are a lot of scrumhalves here and it's a challenge for us to see who the best is. I'm going to fight for my place," said Januarie after the Stormers training session on Wednesday.

Januarie will go head-to-head with Dewaldt Duvenage and Bolla Conradie in the battle for a starting spot at No.9 in the Stormers' opening fixture against the Lions in Johannesburg on February 13.

Duvenage is not in the 27-man squad selected to play against Boland at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday, which would suggest that he is likely to be the starting scrumhalf against the Lions.
This leaves the reserve scrumhalf spot to a straight selection between Januarie and Conradie.

Januarie said he had fitted in well at the Ospreys. He'd enjoyed the game-time, the rugby had been very similar to what he was used to here, and it hadn't been difficult to adapt. Only the weather conditions had been very different.

Asked whether the players selected for Saturday could still force their way into the 22 for the game against the Lions, Coetzee said: "That's exactly the purpose of the last friendly". He added: "But the competition will never be won by 22 players only."

He was happy with the squad selected to play against Boland. "This is a very good team. I'm quite excited to see how this team will go on Saturday."

"The pre-season has been an exceptional build-up for our campaign this year, with this game included. We're very pleased with where we are with preparation."

He was keen to see players like Januarie, Willem de Waal and Dylan des Fountain back on the field and staking a claim for the match squad.  De Waal and Des Fountain had come through their injury rehabilitation programme and "it's up to them to prove they are match-fit".

Fabian Juries was getting a chance to play at fullback "where we can see him in space". He would get time on the wing as well.

Coetzee spoke highly of a few of the younger players in the squad for Saturday.

Rynhardt Elstadt and Martin Muller provided good depth and were young locks of the future.

He described Elstadt as "very physical and aggressive". He did the basics well, hit rucks hard, and was effective at doing the "donkey work". He'd played at lock and flank, but Coetzee thought it would be better for his future career to play as a number four-lock this season.

Muller, a promising number five-lock, had played the last three Super 14 games for the Stormers last year and according to Coetzee "did exceptionally well".

Coetzee regards him particularly highly for his ability to manage line-outs. He had made the line-out calls "very well" for Western Province U21 last year.

Yaya Hartzenberg was a strong ball-carrier as a 7 flank, said Coetzee, and had played well when he came on for UCT in their Varsity Cup match on Monday.

Coetzee described centre Tim Whitehead as "maybe another Juan de Jongh in the making".

"He's got such a lot of time when he does things. He has great skills as a centre - his passing, his vision, his anticipation, and he's got good solid defence too".

Captain Schalk Burger reiterated that while the pre-season matches had served to "show that our systems work and we're on the right track," and had bolstered confidence, "We haven't got any log points and we are under no illusions. They were only warm-up matches".

The Super 14 would require "greater intensity" and a "totally new chapter will start next week".

There would be "no false sense of security", said Burger, especially since the Lions had "sort of been our bogey side in the last few years".

Coetzee was not too concerned about the high penalty count in pre-season matches.

The players understood the laws and were trying to give away as few penalties as possible. While the pre-season had seen players and referees having to adapt to new law applications and players had to discard some old habits, the Stormers goal was to concede no more than six or eight penalties per game.

Stormers: 15 Fabian Juries, 14 Sireli Naqelevuki, 13 Frikkie Welsh, 12 Paul Bosch, 11 Dylan des Fountain, 10 Willem de Waal, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Pieter Louw, 7 Yaya Hartzenberg, 6 Schalk Burger (C), 5 Anton van Zyl, 4 Rynhardt Elstadt, 3 JC Kritzinger, 2 Deon Fourie, 1 JD Moller.
Replacements - from: Calllie Visagie, Eusebio Guinazu, Martin Muller, Pieter Myburgh, Conraad Britz, Bolla Conradie, Lionel Cronje, Tim Whitehead, Duane Vermeulen, Bryan Habana, Juan de Jongh, Gio Aplon

Date: Saturday, February 6
Venue: Cape Town Stadium
Kick-off: 16.15 (14.15 GMT)
Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Matt Kemp, Marc van Zyl

By Len Kaplan

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