De Villiers ended the argument

Rugby president Brian van Rooyen intimated during his speech at the post-match reception at Ellis Park that rugby writers would have been embarrassed by the Springbok victory over Australia.

I can only talk for myself, but nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, it was immensely satisfying to see one of my hobby-horse arguments of the year being so thoroughly vindicated.

Those who read this column regularly will know that when it came to Jean de Villiers and where he should play, I was like a dog with a bone. It started during the Super 12 season, when Stormers coach Gert Smal selected De Villiers on the wing. For me, this was a waste of one of South African rugby’s few real creative talents.

Of course, this was not just a view pedalled in this column. Several others have been arguing the same. For instance, in the latter stages of the Super 12 my colleagues in Johannesburg installed De Villiers as inside centre in their Bok Barometer team even though he had not played there.

The argument about where De Villiers should play, and who should be wearing the Bok No12 jersey, is now over. De Villiers showed against Australia just how much benefit can be derived from having a player with vision, great distribution, handling ability and with the strength to stand up and pass through the tackle at inside centre.

The game against Australia also threw the spotlight on one of the other areas that was criticised in the early stages of the season, in particular after the first test against France. Schalk Burger, Danie Rossouw and Jacques Cronje are all great players individually, but as a combination they were just too slow.

When the French matched the Boks at forward in Durban, they proved this, and this was one of the reasons the visitors had so much space to play with. When they got dominated at forward the following week the Boks were able to hide this deficiency, but the problem was not going to remain dormant forever.

At Ellis Park the loose trio was a lot quicker, a lot more mobile, a lot more dynamic and multi-skilled. And we saw the results.

But this column is not meant to be read as an “I told you so” message to the Bok coach or selectors. I firmly believe that many of the things we saw on Saturday were sensed by White all along. He just wanted a chance to have it proved.

The opening test against Uruguay was the only easy match of the year, but it gave us nothing when it came to testing De Villiers’ defensive abilities at centre. White rightly placed a massive stress on the squad system during the buildup to the Tri-Nations, and it could be argued that it was because of the way he managed his players that he now arrives at the start of competition better informed on the depth available to him than any previous Bok coach has been.

After successfully fielding Enrico Januarie in four tests matches, White can rest assured that if first choice Fourie du Preez is injured during the Tri-Nations, he has a player of ability ready to come in as a replacement.

Ditto for the loose-forward positions, where Van Niekerk and Cronje can be rotated at No8 depending on the demands of a particular match, and where Solly Tyibilika and Juan Smith have both had their moments and are of international class.

It is the same at loosehead prop, where Gurthro Steenkamp and Lawrence Sephaka have bothed shown that Os du Randt should no longer be seen as the immoveable object when it comes to selection.

It took a while for White to seek an alternative to Jaco van der Westhuyzen, and I am not sure the former should be discarded, but after giving Andre Pretorius a chance in Johannesburg, he now knows he has suitable back-up at flyhalf too (okay, if you want the truth, there are some things I am going to take a rain-check on until the Boks have played overseas again, and this is one of them).

The one area which remains an obvious concern heading into the Tri-Nations is lock. The first choices are world class, and Albert van den Berg is not far behind. But the confusing call to Greg Rawlinson earlier in the year highlighted a weakness, and White will be holding thumbs that two of his top three locks don’t end up getting injured at the same time.

It is also a pity that CJ van der Linde remains the only specialist tighthead in the squad. This is an important position.

Percy Montgomery has played the entire buildup at fullback, so this is another position where there is no apparent back-up, particularly now that Brent Russell is out in the cold. However, Van der Westhuyzen has played a lot of rugby at fullback, and Jaques Fourie is equally at home at outside centre, wing and fullback.

Talking of fullback…well, maybe I shouldn’t say it, because he is at last playing in his preferred position. But let’s say it for purposes of the record anyway: De Villiers, if he was asked to play there, would probably make a more than decent fullback.

Now that it has been said, let’s forget it. The best inside centre must play inside centre, and nowhere else.