A FRIEND of mine recently posted on Facebook that he had decided not to watch any rugby this year to spend more time with his children.

As resolutions go, I thought it was right up there with "must get a six-pack by the end of the year", given that he is Afrikaans.

But he reiterated last week that his children were done being rugby orphans while sorcerers named Quade Cooper and Elton Jantjies held him hostage to the TV.

What a year to give up the good stuff, though.

Heyneke Meyer is finally the Springbok coach; and the Super 15 blasts off with fixtures featuring the Blues and the Crusaders, the Bulls and the Sharks, and the Reds and the Waratahs.

Hell, even the Lions are simmering with intent this year.

One man who will start the season with a point to prove is Sharks hooker Bismarck du Plessis.

After years spent being made to take his jersey number a little literally by playing second fiddle to former Bok captain John Smit, this is the year to gauge how much damage that has done to his Bok starting ambitions.

Public opinion suggests that all "Bissy" has to do is remain healthy through the first half of the Super 15 season to be Meyer's starting hooker against England in June.

But when he takes his place in the Super 15 opener against the Bulls on Friday, Du Plessis would do well to take note of the slighter figure of his opposite number Chiliboy Ralepelle because he has even more to prove.

Obstacles-wise, the most Du Plessis has had to get over is being unfairly passed over for Smit, a neck injury, and having to comply with his mother's decree that he wasn't allowed to play rugby professionally before finishing his degree.

Ralepelle has overcome the kind of injuries which should have retired him by now, a career that has constantly been accompanied by doubts over his ability simply because he is black, and Jake White doing him the ultimate disservice of naming him as Springbok captain for window-dressing purposes.

Ralepelle may well be ready to finally deliver on a career which showed so much promise when he led two junior South African teams to world championships in two years.

It may come as a surprise to many, but Du Plessis is the one with the bloodied nose from their most recent encounters.

Ralepelle outplayed Du Plessis in both Super 15 games that the two played against each other last year, but all of that was lost in the hullabaloo of the Du Plessis/Smit debate.

And once Sean Fitzpatrick waded in by anointing Du Plessis as the best hooker in the world, you weren't going to find one of us media types contradicting that.

As different as the two men are, they deliver pretty much the same stuff on the pitch, albeit in different ways.

Both are accurate throwers at lineouts; their props are happy with their scrummaging; they are good at driving with the ball; defend well; and play as the extra loose forward, crucially stealing ball in the process.

The difference is that the bigger, aptly named Bismarck relies on brute strength and explosiveness to get things done, while Ralepelle - aided by a lower centre of gravity - has had to rely on technique.

The decider may well be upstairs, where Du Plessis looks to settle all arguments physically, while Ralepelle has had to think to survive.

If Meyer is to be believed that there are no reserved places in his Bok team, Du Plessis should find making it into that side as difficult as it was to unseat Smit.