STORMERS COACH BACKS GRANT

Western Province and Stormers coach Kobus van der Merwe, believes Peter Grant could make the Springbok No10 shirt his own during South Africa's upcoming away leg of the 2007 Tri-Nations.

Most of this week's talk has surrounded Jake White's decision to rest his best players from SA's annual Australasian jaunt, with new additions Peter Grant (fly-half) and Jannie du Plessis (prop) slipping in under the radar.

Van der Merwe, however, was full of praise for Stormers and WP pivot Grant, who impressed at flyhalf for the Emerging Springboks team that won the International Rugby Board (IRB) Nations Cup earlier this month.

And with Butch James being rested, Grant - who missed most of last year's Currie Cup with a serious shoulder injury, having played the first three matches at inside centre - will slug it out with Derick Hougaard for the Bok fly-half position over the next few weeks.

Hougaard, who played fly-half for South Africa at the 2003 Rugby World Cup before falling out of favour at national level, started against Samoa last month, but White is not a massive fan of the Bulls kicking machine.

"Peter [Grant] won't disappoint, he is an excellent player in good form," said Van der Merwe to Gareth Green of rugby365.com.

Aside from Grant, Van der Merwe wished WP's other four Bok representatives the best of luck for the upcoming tour, in particular scrum-half Johannes 'Bolla' Conradie, who has not played much of late.

"Bolla just got back from injury though, so he'll be a little rusty," warned the WP coach.

Conradie has been out injured since the Super 14 competition, having undergone an elbow operation. But touring with the Boks is nothing new to the George Gregan lookalike, who made his Test debut against Wales in 2002. Conradie, who is 29 years old, has played 15 Tests between '02 and 2005.

Van der Merwe, meanwhile, backed Jake White's much-talked about rotation policy, which will see SA's top 21 players miss the trip Down Under, much to the astonishment of the powers that be in Australia and New Zealand.

Said Van der Merwe: "Jake has his plan and he knows what he wants."

MBEKI DOES NOT WANT TO TAKE OVER RUGBY: KOMPELA

Rumours that President Thabo Mbeki was involved in a conspiracy to take over rugby were untrue, the chairman of Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Sports, Butana Kompela, said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the rugby unions' transformation briefing in Parliament, Kompela said while the rumours were not true, they were quite damaging.

"Transformation is national agenda of the constitution and not the agenda of an individual.

"I can assure you that there is no one in this country who would want to take over rugby, all that we want to achieve is transformation of this sport... " he said.

By not refuting Mbeki's conspiracy claims, the rugby sport leadership, Kompela said, was creating an impression that there was substance to the rumours.

"Despite the fact that these rumours are being published in newspapers, the rugby leadership has not distanced itself from them.

"We want the leadership to brief us on the issue and tell us what their position is," he said.

Wie not Wii

A row between the world's two best known women golfers is raising the temperature for this week's LPGA Championship, with Annika Sorenstam saying Michelle Wie lacked class in dealing with a wrist injury.

Former world number one Sorenstam took issue with a decision by teenager Wie to withdraw from a tournament last week when she was 14 over par, citing a wrist injury, only to practise two days later.

"I just feel there's a little bit of a lack of respect and class just to leave a tournament like that and then come out and practise here," Sorenstam told a news conference.

Wie was 16 holes into the opening round of last week's tournament in North Carolina week when she pulled out, complaining of a wrist injury that had kept her from playing since January.

Two days later, the 17-year-old, who recently graduated from high school, was practising at the Bulle Rock Golf Course in Maryland, the site of the LPGA Championship starting on Thursday.

Wie, who is not a member of the women's tour and has played courtesy of sponsors' exemptions, including in men's events, refused to back down.

"I don't think I need to apologise for anything," she said. "I just have to take care of my body and mover forward and only think of positive things."

Adding intrigue to her withdrawal was an LPGA rule that any non-member who shoots 88 or worse in a round is barred from the tour for the rest of the season. Wie was two bogeys away from that ignominious score.

"I don't think about [shooting] 88," she said. "I mean, that's just ridiculous."

Wie's troubles were compounded when her playing partners in a pro-am event on Monday at Bulle Rock lodged a complaint, prompting LPGA Commissioner Carolyn Bivens to meet with Wie's father, B.J., and agent, Greg Nared.

Although the nature of the dispute was unclear, Wie was adamant she had been cooperative with her playing partners.

"I think it was very insulting because I tried my best," she said.

Wie, who earned close to $20 million in 2006 from endorsements, earnings and appearance money overseas, has struggled since tying for fifth place at last year's LPGA Championship.