For Bok captain,Louw is the name

Anyone familiar with Jean de Villiers's wretched relationship with the Rugby World Cup will find the question cruel, but who should be the Springbok captain if he fails to make it to the tournament again next year?

The Bok captain, having been excluded by injuries from playing an influential role in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 World Cup tournaments, is again in a race against time after all but writing off his left knee in that dreary loss to Wales last weekend.

The most recent prognosis suggests he will be out of the game for eight months, a lay-off which will end two monthsbefore the World Cup begins in September. Before that, the Boks will have four Tests and about three friendlies to play before the tournament.

This means Bok coach Heyneke Meyer will have seven games to try a new centre pairing and assess De Villiers's readiness for World Cup rigours, which have proved too much for him before.

With that uncertainty, this means it is time he thought about another captain to lead his team to the World Cup.

Meyer is on record as saying if his team has any chance of winning the World Cup, De Villiers has to be captain, but recent events might have overtaken that ideal.

Most are probably thinking Victor Matfield - who has deputised for John Smit and De Villiers - is the logical choice, having been Meyer's right-hand man at the Bulls.

But Meyer himself said it wasn't a foregone conclusion because Matfield, 37, was still finding his (playing) feet at international level after coming back from retirement this year.

Then there is the actual captaincy. There is a feeling that Matfield is a world-class player but no more than an above- average captain at international level.

A crude way to explain what I mean is that in the same way some players' natural playing ceilings are at Super Rugby level, his captaincy appears to have a glass ceiling when it comes to leading in Tests.

That said, it is an unfair statement to make, as Matfield has never had a clear enough run at the Bok captaincy for anyone to draw any concrete conclusions.

This brings us to who the candidates for the captaincy should be. The decision hinges on what kind of captain Meyer wants.

If he wants to continue the diplomatic captain tradition of Smit and De Villiers, then it has to be flanker Francois Louw. But, if he wants to move to someone who leads from the front, it has to be No8 Duane Vermeulen.

Although he has lapses when a nastier side has emerged, the intelligent Louw fits the bill of a big picture captain who understands this country's warped dynamics and can speak to them.

Also, as Bath captain, he knows the conditions in which the Boks will embark on their World Cup campaign.

Vermeulen appears to be the strong, silent type who leads by example. A sign of his leadership is how he calmed Nizaam Carr's nerves on his debut against Italy simply because he could see the youngster was edgy.

Oupa Mohoje also couldn't stop raving about how Vermeulen does everything with intensity. The catch for the ultra-physical Vermeulen is that he, like De Villiers, has a history of being injury-prone.

Some might punt Schalk Burger's credentials on account of his getting the big picture and putting his body on the line, but he is not guaranteed a place in the starting lineup.

It might sound a little too left field, but Louw is the best bet to replace De Villiers.