Friday, 1st December 2006 at 11:42 pm

The new skipper

That South Africa’s national rugby coach has a thing for hookers should be tabloid fodder; in Jake White’s case, the courtesans in question aren’t your usual ladies of the night. White’s unstinting support of John Smit saw the Bok skipper just about played into the ground; Smit has finally won a rest, and so another hooker takes up the reins. A third number two, Gary Botha, is set to come on at half-time this weekend against the World XV and take over the captaincy; it’s Sunday’s starting skipper, however, who’s got all the attention. Chilliboy Ralepelle has barely started shaving, but he’ll lead a Springbok XV on the back of roughly seven cumulative minutes in a South African jersey. The first armband for a great future leader? Or a shrewd piece of politics from the coach? Somewhere in between, probaby - but either way, Jake White’s fetish for hookers continues unabated.