The Springboks have extended their lead atop the World Rugby rankings after Ireland’s shock defeat at the hands of England. Image: JULIEN DE ROSA, AFP
Nepotism claims against Rassie Erasmus rightly rubbished
On numbers alone Stormers hooker Andre-Hugo Venter deserves a place at the Springbok alignment camp without question.
The Springboks have extended their lead atop the World Rugby rankings after Ireland’s shock defeat at the hands of England. Image: JULIEN DE ROSA, AFP
Claims of nepotism made on social media by bad faith commentors have rightly been shut down.
The claims emerged after Stormers’ hooker Andre-Hugo Venter, who is dating Erasmus’ daughter, was called for the alignment camp.
Nobody in the know would ever back such claims.
Nepotism claims against Rassie Erasmus rubbished
Venter has done more than enough in the United Rugby Championship to warrant his involvement in the camp.
This was pointed out by Planet Rugby writer Jared Wright, who wrote on X: “I feel for Andre Hugo Venter as there are bound to be calls of nepotism when he is called into the Bok squad.
“But he is actually a fine player and would be fully deserving of his call up.
“He is comfortably in the mix for the next-gen Bok hookers.”
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Lineout feed motivates Springbok call for Andre-Hugo Venter
Venter has been among the more consistent hookers when it comes to feeding the lineout.
Having steady hands feeding lineouts at the camp can only aid the Springbok cause.
There are concerns surrounding South African hookers at lineout time with the setpiece not delivering the kind of dividends teams would like.
It has been a problem area for Venter’s Stormers teammate Joseph Dweba and a major stumbling block to the dynamic frontranker making a Springbok breakthrough.
URC Top 100 validation
The URC Top 100 player rankings feature just two South African hookers. Venter and Grobbelaar.
The dynamic player ranking system that combines recent performances across the United Rugby Championship, EPCR competitions and international rugby.
Venter has been the Stormers best hooker statistically, driven by the accuracy he has had with his lineout feed and good scrum work from the pack as a whole.
Andre-Hugo Venter is no Malcolm Marx, yet
Venter is improving as a ball-carrier but as a relatively tall hooker he hasn’t been able to do the kind of jackaling work that has come to bhe expected of No 2s.
Having players like Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi around Venter in the camp can also only help his allround game come along.
Venter has benefitted tremendously from enhanced URC and Champions Cup exposure coming up against the likes of Dan Sheehan and Augustin Creevy.
Nepotism claims are baseless
Claims that Venter was some sort of nepotism pick flies in the face of reality.
Venter’s performances in the URC speak for themselves.
To claim nepotism is to be wilfully ignorant of what has been going down on the pitch.
Venter is a player to watch and the Stormers will give him a great platform to further showcase his skills before he has a chance to earn a Springbok cap.
