Curate's Egg may be the answer

There was some mirth from fellow journalists the other day when someone asked me to submit a Springbok team and the name of Gaffie du Toit appeared on the left wing.

But those who laughed may have to eat some humble pie when Springbok coach Jake White unveils his selections for the international season in June. White told me a couple of seasons ago that he would love to see Du Toit on the left wing, and he now has his chance to see if the experiment will work.

Of course, there are several specialist wingers who need to be taken into consideration, which is why I am not saying definitely that this is what White will do. Breyton Paulse has returned to form and Ashwin Willemse was the Bok star of an otherwise disappointing 2003 season. Presumably White will have to find a way to accomodate both these players, with one of them playing out of position in the No11 jersey (they are both more at home on the right wing).

Yet if the opportunity presents itself, don't bet against White shifting Du Toit into a position that to the best of my knowledge he has not played at a high level, but which he should be well suited to.

Think about it, the guy has lightning acceleration, possesses blistering pace and while playing for the Stormers this season he has shown that he can round his man with consummate in a one on one situation.

Now this might be a complete contradiction of the first ever column that I submitted to this website. That was three years ago when there was one of those periodic media clamours for someone to work on getting Du Toit right so that he could realise his unlimited potential.

My response at the time was that Du Toit had had enough chances and that he was not temperamentally suited to playing an important position like flyhalf for the Springboks. But players do mature, and after having a chat with Stormers coach Gert Smal, I am not so convinced any more that Du Toit will never make it.

There is a feeling within the Stormers camp that, thanks in chief to the way he has been handled by Carel du Plessis, Du Toit is now ready to start performing consistently, and performing under pressure.

A few weeks ago it was considered a bit over the top when some were writing him up on the basis of one good game. But since then he has played well again and again.

The big test for Du Toit will come over the next four weeks. Playing the Reds in Brisbane, the Blues in Auckland and the Crusaders in Christchurch will bring different pressures to the one Du Toit faced when playing a home match for the Stormers against the Bulls.

But you have to give credit where credit is due, and it has to be said that Du Toit, who Smal says has gained incredibly in both confidence and maturity, dished out a few lessons in flyhalf play to Derick Hougaard in the big derby match.

Whereas Hougaard takes the ball far too deep, thus removing too many of his teammates from the attacking equation, Du Toit was happy to draw his defenders and go right to the gainline before putting boot to ball. This played an important part in exposing the deficiencies which we suddenly saw in young Willem de Waal (who in any case is really a flyhalf himself) in the Bulls' last line of defence.

After a few initial hiccups, Du Toit even settled down to start slotting a few goalkicks, some of them from acute angles. On the evidence of the past few weeks, when Du Toit has done well at both fullback and flyhalf, it may just be possible to say that perhaps there is some substance to the claim that what he really needed was to come under the wing of a coach who was prepared to work through the complexities affecting his confidence.

But many, particularly those who covered Du Toit's career when he played out of Durban, are not so convinced. There can also be no denying that he is a confidence player. When it goes for him it really goes for him, when it doesn't you might as well take him from the field.

My selection of Du Toit on the left wing makes allowances for the possible temperamental lapses that no coach can completely reckon without. There would be less decision-making pressure on Du Toit this way, yet the Springbok coach will still retain his genius to slot into the flyhalf channel once the play has opened up and the ball has gone through a couple of phases.

Indeed, Du Toit could be a devastating force if used in this way, and he also has that massive field kicking boot to call on for penalties and other occasions the ball needs to be kicked far downfield.

As a left wing he would be able to help cover the fullback, and it would be a bold opposition player who would go onto the field thinking that he did not need to be closely watched.

Du Toit would also offer an additional goalkicking option if, as expected, White opts to turn to one of Butch James, Jaco van der Westhuyzen or Werner Greeff as his flyhalf. It is no secret that he plans to use Percy Montgomery as his first choice goalkicker (Monty is kicking up a storm in the northern hemisphere), but none of the above players have always been reliable goalkickers.

What White may decide is that he can carry an unreliable goalkicker if his team has three such players. Not all those kickers - James, Montgomery and Du Toit - will misfire on the same day.

So there, in a nutshell, is why I would choose Gaffie du Toit as my left wing. If there was an obvious selection in that position I might hold a different view, but there isn't, so this may be the perfect opportunity to reintroduce to test rugby a man I last year nicknamed "The Curate's Egg" for his tendency to do some things extremely well and other things extremely poorly.

The next few weeks of the Stormers tour of New Zealand and Australia will tell us just how suited he is to the role. For now his current form should be enough to get him into contention.