Durban — When it comes to scrumhalf, it is a case of ‘What I lot I’ve got’ for Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber as the countdown speeds up to September’s World Cup in France.
Nienaber begins his third round of player alignment camps in Durban on Wednesday as the Rugby Championship opener against the Wallabies in Pretoria on 8 July looms on the horizon.
One of the positions he will be scratching his head about is scrumhalf, but it is more a case of who he is going to leave out later in the year.
It must be considered that the two No 9s in Durban for this camp have been in awesome form this year, yet they were not in the picture for the 2019 World Cup – and the three players who went to that event are still very much in the frame.
The Durban duo is the Sharks’ Jaden Henrdrkise and Grant Williams. The trio of scrumhalves in Japan four years ago were Faf de Klerk, Herschel Jantjies and Cobus Reinach.
Of that five, it is highly likely that only three will go to France, as there just won’t be more space in the 33-player squad that is permitted for the event.
In 2019, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus took 17 forwards and 14 backs, and Nienaber is also likely to favour a bigger forward group.
Hendrikse was managing the Sharks’ game plan neatly from the base of the scrum in the games he did get to play in the Champions Cup and United Rugby Championship, before he suffered a shoulder joint dislocation in the process of scoring a try against Munster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park last month.
The Sharks had the best of both worlds at that point because Williams would come on for Hendrikse at the three-quarter mark, when the game was opening up, and his devastating pace wreaked havoc.
And when Williams became the starting No 9, he just got better. It is unlikely that there is a more lethal game-breaker playing scrumhalf in world rugby than Williams.
World Rugby Player of the Year Antoine Dupont might beg to differ, but I am talking more about an out-an-out line-breaker who can spot a gap, and in a flash, the ball is deposited behind the posts – which is not so much an all-rounder such as Dupont, who contributes sublimely all over the park.
Williams is a game-breaker, the type of player who can win you a game in an instant. He is in such sensational form that Nienaber surely must be considering him as the perfect “Bomb Squad” detonator for the World Cup.
There will be debate over who should be the starting No 9, and I would imagine that is between De Klerk and Hendrikse, but on form, Williams has to be the second-half game-changer.
The competition at scrumhalf in South Africa is certainly increasing the performances of the contenders.
I thought Jantjies was slick against Connacht in the URC semi-final last week, and dare I mention how well the uncapped Morne van den Berg at the Lions is playing? He must be the most underrated player in SA, and Sanele Nohamba is not far behind him, and he is also a scrumhalf!
The extended Bok squad will only gather in Pretoria from 12-30 June, where their preparation for the Rugby Championship will begin.The first Test is on 8 July against Australia at Loftus, while they will play New Zealand (15 July in Auckland) and Argentina (29 July at Ellis Park) in a shortened tournament.
Bok training squad:
Lukhanyo Am, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Thomas du Toit, Eben Etzebeth, Jaden Hendrikse, Siya Kolisi, Willie le Roux, Makazole Mapimpi, Bongi Mbonambi, Canan Moodie, Ox Nche, Kwagga Smith, Marco van Staden, Grant Williams
IOL Sport