As most rugby purists know, the front five or tight five are the key to any rugby team’s success. You can have the best backline in the world but even Dan Carter will be ineffective if he has an under par tight five.
The possession and supply of good quality ball in a rugby match is reliant enormously on the performance of the two Props, Hooker and Second Rowers (or Locks). Lineout’s and scrums are still immensely important seeing that a winning scrum and lineout will drain energy from and demoralise the opposition.
In the Second Row department the Boks have the best combination in World Rugby. Victor Matfield is undoubtedly the Lineout King and Bakkies Botha is the enforcer par excellence. If this combination is at its peak come RWC 2011 other countries will be, and should be, very worried!
In the horrible event that one or both of these rugby superstars gets injured we have two very capable replacements that would easily start for any other national team. Andries Bekker has been Matfield’s understudy for quite some time now and when Matfield decides to pass on the baton, the 2 metre Lineout Prince will be ready, able and willing to step up and establish himself.
It has been said that Bakkies has been feeling a bit of pressure because of the way Danie Russouw has been performing in his absence. In return Botha put in a superb powerhouse performance in his first game back and is still my first choice enforcer for the Boks. Russouw can count himself extremely unlucky to be playing rugby at the same time as Botha.
For me there is currently only one starting hooker for the Springboks, John Smit. It is almost folklore already that Smit is one of the best International Rugby Captains ever! He is certainly one of the most respected. What Smit might not have in terms of loose play, he more than makes up in his scrumaging and the tight/loose. His Captaincy speaks for itself, ask any player who has played under him.
Bismark du Plessis and Gary Botha would be my 2nd and 3rd choice hookers. The main reason is that they are perfect impact players for Test Match rugby. Imagine being the opposition after playing an hour of rugby and on comes Bismark du Plesssis or Gary Botha – just the thought would make you dejected and yes, there is still a place for the impact player.
Tighthead Prop is an interesting topic at the moment. BJ Botha has not impressed since his return and Jannie du Plessis is still seeking the consistency that would make him first choice. CJ van der Linde is a tighthead World Cup winner and can play both sides, but who is our best tighthead? This is one position that is still up for grabs and any one of these three can establish themselves as the Bok No.3.
Everyone, including myself, was in disbelief when Tandai “Beast” Mtawarira was not allowed to play for South Africa after representing the Boks in 15 Tests. Beast was (and still is) regarded as one of the best looseheads in South Africa because of his great strength and incredible mobility for a prop. He is fast, has good hands and is a formidable srummager – just ask Phil Vickery.
Fast forward to today and you could ask Martin Castrogiovanni the same question about Gurthro Steenkamp! Steenkamp has been incredible in the past two test matches and Castrogiovanni, who many rate as the best tighthead currently in world rugby was sent packing to the sidelines. Here I don’t have a preference, you can put either Beast or Gurthro at loosehead and both would be superb.
Lastly, I’d like to add what a difference it seems that Os du Randt has made as scrum coach. The experience passed on by the legendary loosehead coupled with John Smit returning to hooker has made our scrum one of the finest…Bring on RWC 2011!
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