May the force be with him

Brent Russell’s selection as fullback for the test against Wales must rank as one of the strangest selectorial decisions yet made in the annals of Springbok rugby.

In fact, from a historical perspective the decision to give Russell the No15 jersey is so out of the ordinary as to be bizarre.

Consider this. Russell has been picked to play fullback in a test even though he has no real experience of playing in the position. In fact, his knowledge of playing at fullback runs to a couple of games at school and club level – presumably shortly after he got to UCT.

In my experience there have been many capricious actions by Springbok selectors – such as Kitch Christie picking Mark Andrews at No8 in the 1995 World Cup semi-final and final – but none ranks alongside Rudolf Straeuli’s bold gamble with Russell.

Although there were oddities in years gone by – such as Danie Craven’s achievement of having played in four different positions in tests – but in the modern era such “left-fielders” are rare.

In recent memory possibly the most controversial selection – also involving a change of position – was the choice of Gerrie Sonnekus, who had played most of his rugby at No8 for Free State, at scrumhalf against the 1974 British Lions.

Sonnekus was put in ahead of a number of specialist scrumhalves by the then coach Nelie Smith, who was also his provincial coach, but he had at least had a couple of provincial outings in the No9 jersey.

There was André Markgraaff’s mind-boggling decision to axe Francois Pienaar and bring in, in Theo Oosthuizen, a player who was just not on the same level plus Nick Mallett’s aberration when he dropped Gary Teichmann ahead of the World Cup in ’99, but with Russell the surprise factor is even greater.

The most amazing thing is that the man who has pulled the rabbit out of the hat, as it were, was described as dour and unimaginative during his stay with the Sharks!

Straeuli deserves to be complimented for being the first, almost in the history of Springbok rugby, to pick a player for what he can do rather than leaving him out for fear of what he can’t do.

In this vein I have often written that had players such as Jo Maso and David Campese emerged in South Africa they would probably not have been picked because they would have been deemed too unpredictable or difficult to control.

Straeuli has clearly decided 22-year-old Russell is a unique talent whose crackerjack skills will add another dimension to the Springboks’ play and help them to start scoring more tries.

And, having decided he could pick Russell without his having played in the Super 12, he obviously decided why not deploy him in the position in which he has the most space and the greatest freedom.

So Russell, whose last appearance at Newlands was in the No10 jersey of the Pumas on a day he cut Western Province to pieces in a 58-18 victory, will run on for his first start in a test in a position with which he is completely unfamiliar and with just 37 minutes of international experience after replacing Ricardo Loubscher in the 54th minute in Bloemfontein.

Put that way it seems almost foolhardy but if there is one thing we know about Rudolf Straeuli it is that there is not a foolhardy hair on his head. You must know that Straeuli has thought this one through and that he weighed up all the odds before asking Russell to step up onto the high board.

May the force be with him.