To quote so many of you Springboks supporters on social media, if Salmaan Moerat is so KAK to be the captain of the Springboks then the coach who made him captain must be really KAK. NOT QUITE, writes Mark Keohane.
Those of you who so liberally throw out the plaudits to the most revered man to coach the Springboks should maybe trust his judgement over yours in who he makes captain of the Springboks.
I can produce a thousand comments a day on ‘Rassie for President’.
I can produce a thousand comments on Rassie being lauded for not seeing colour, in terms of his selection, but seeing game minutes, opportunity and creating an environment for players to succeed.
I can produce a thousand comments on all of you agreeing with my article that Rassie should be appointed Springboks coach until thew 2035 World Cup final. And then we only revisit on his terms.
KEO: APPOINT RASSIE UNTIL THE 2035 RWC
‘RASSIE … RASSIE … RASSIE … HE’S IN YOUR HEAD …’
So calling his choice of Salmaan Moerat as starting No 4 lock and ‘KAK’ is in fact calling Rassie KAK.
I don’t think so.
Why would the coach who has transformed the Springboks into the most celebrated sporting team in South Africa, the most must-cultural, the back-to-back World Cup winners and No 1 in the world, feel the need to pick a player based on politics, on colour and on religion?
Where is his gain? Where is his necessity?
‘In Rassie we trust’ is the most regular response I hear to any statement about the Springboks.
So why the attack on Moerat, a Springbok captain, picked by Rassie and asked to captain the Springboks by Rassie?
Would you not trust Rassie’s judgement over yours in terms of who he makes his captain?
Would you not be embarrassed to tell Rassie that his choice of captain is KAK, which makes him a KAK selector? Just asking because no one on social media could do that because no one knows Moerat the Test player like Erasmus does. No one knows him like Stormers coach John Dobson.
Should the comments not be, could Dobbo and Rassie educate us mere rugby watching mortals, whose only exposure to the Boks is when they play 80 minutes on a Saturday, why they rate a player and why they rate him so highly to make him the Stormers and Springboks captain?
Is that not a logical question or statement of intent?
Instead, when chatting to Zels on the Keo & Zels show, and I applauded Moerat for leading the Boks to a 45-0 blank of Italy, these were some of the responses, just on YouTube. I don’t even want to share what was on the other social media channels.
Here is a sample after a Springboks 45-0 win.
‘Salmaan Moerat, more like Salamander Mud. Show the metrics and stats compared to other locks that make him the supposed better choice.
Moerat, for his size did an amazing trick of vanishing for about 60 minutes – takes skill!
No Keo. Moerat was mediocre. We have much better locks in South Africa. Thought we would get some honesty about how kak he played!
Nobody knows why Keo has this love affair with Moerat.
Kak Keo. I agree on everything you said but putting the words Moerat and physical in one sentence is a joke
Moerat reminds me of the days of Qouta players.
Mark disagree with respect. Moerat is a casualty, and no leader. This continues it will be discouraging to other players. This is a passenger in the middle of 15 players . He has to make his presence and big body count.
Moerat was excellent … at being invisible
‘Moerat does nothing, FACT! he is juyst (sync) PR story and there for photo opportunities