Draft is a question of attitude

Hopefully when Rassie Erasmus runs onto Newlands for his first appearance in a Stormers jersey he will get a rousing welcome from the Cape rugby faithful.

Erasmus is a fine player and there is no denying that at this time his country does need to see him play in the Super 12. Even with an injury and less than 100% fit, Erasmus was good enough captaining Free State in last year's Currie Cup to challenge for a place in the Springbok squad.

That he did not tour Europe at the end of the year was because he felt his foot would not stand up to the rigours of test rugby and he did not want to let his country down.

But while Erasmus' arrival in the Cape will be welcomed by most, there are bound to be some elements who will feel uncomfortable with it. And when it comes to certain aspects of the draft system employed by SA Rugby in the Super 12, I cannot say I have always lacked sympathy for those who question the apparent arbitrary redeployment of players contracted to other unions and who are essentially playing on loan.

Earlier this year I wrote about my chat with former French rugby icon Serge Blanco in London last November. It was Blanco's view that the problem with southern hemisphere rugby was that players lacked team identity and were no longer playing for the jersey, but themselves.

Blanco reckoned that while the players at Biarritz will give their lives for the club jersey, which they are intensely proud of, in South Africa and New Zealand the players have little sense of the tradition and history of the teams they represent.

His main gripe was with the draft system, which he felt contributed to this lack of identity with a particular jersey or team culture.

A few weeks ago I was privy to an interesting interview with Skipper Badenhorst, the Pumas hooker who was drafted to the Stormers. During our conversation, it emerged that Badenhorst, just two days earlier, had been willing the Bulls to beat the Stormers in the big derby match at Loftus.

There is nothing wrong with that. The player lives in Pretoria, he grew up there, and his current union is part of the Bulls Super 12 franchise. There would have been something wrong if he had not supported the Bulls. Yet there he was less than 24 hours later having to pledge his allegiance to the Stormers.

He caused quite a stir when he arrived at Rondebosch Boys High towards the end of the Monday training session. Initially we journalists took no notice of the youngster dressed in a tracksuit and carrying a tog-bag who was walking along the touchline from the car-park. We thought he was a pupil at the school.

It was only when the Western Province employee who had given him a lift from the airport shouted out the words "Stormers, I have your new hooker" that our interest was aroused. Even then, we battled afterwards to find a Stormers player who remembered the full name of the player they had just been introduced to.

The question is this: How easy is it for someone like Badenhorst to go out and play his heart out for a team that represents a city that is not his own and for teammates he has only just met?

It was a question which was asked earlier in the year when SA Rugby removed WP prop Pat Barnard from the Stormers region in order to fortify the front-row resources of the Cats.

But the purpose of this column is to acknowledge that, though the system still makes me feel uncomfortable, the questions asked a few months ago have to some extent been answered.

As I am not with the Cats on a daily basis, I cannot speak for Barnard or his attitude to that team. What is certain, however, is that the one drafted player that the Stormers have made consistent use of in the past few weeks has been a resounding success.

Until he was called up to replace injured Stormers players during their overseas tour, Grant Esterhuizen was much like Erasmus in that he had only played against the Stormers, and we all know how much players from the Bulls and Cats love to put one over teams from the Cape.

Yet from his first appearance in the black jersey it was abundantly clear that he was prepared to give his heart and soul to the Stormers cause. The tackle he pulled off against Jaco van der Weshuyzen in Pretoria two weeks ago might have been what won his new team the match.

Stormers coach Gert Smal has had nothing but praise for Esterhuizen and by all accounts he has been a tremendous team man (it is a pity the return of the some of the Stormers Springboks has seen him dropped for the Blues match).

Another successful draftee this season has been Wylie Human, the Sharks wing drafted from the Bulls. By their standards it has not been a great year for the Sharks, but Human has consistently been one of their better players and there can be no questioning his passion and commitment for the Sharks cause.

Yet just last season Human was part of a Bulls team which was involved in two acrimonious Currie Cup clashes with his current teammates and he is contracted to wear the light blue jersey against the Sharks team again in the Currie Cup later this year.

Talking of the Bulls, we should not forget the impact made by their most celebrated draftee, Louis Koen. Still contracted to the Lions, it was Koen who was the difference between the sides when they clashed in Bloemfontein at the start of the Super 12.

Again I have not spoken to him since his move, but he does not play like a player who lacks commitment or passion for the Bulls cause. Assuming he is not in the World Cup squad, later this year he will be back in Lions colours and plotting the downfall of the Bulls in the Currie Cup.

Of course, it all comes down to opportunity. Everyone wants to play Super 12 because it is the best way to be recognised by the national selectors. New players see it as a chance to catch the eye, older players, such as Esterhuizen, see it as a chance to save their careers.

While he was a little nervous because he was new to the Stormers and many of his new teammates, there was no denying the sparkle in Badenhorst's eye when he pitched up at his first practice. The fact that Smal had enough regard for him to pick him out of relative obscurity to help his team meant a lot to him.

He has not been on the field yet, but when he does get there, we can expect him to be every bit as passionate about the Stormers as Esterhuizen has been.

Ultimately, that is what it all comes down to: commitment and passion. If a drafted player plays as if he does not want to be there and performs poorly, it is not inconceivable that a demanding crowd like the one at Newlands might even boo him.

But in this professional age the background and domicile of a player quickly becomes irrelevant if that player proves an asset to the home team and, perhaps more importantly, helps it to win.

Erasmus has a lot to play for, which is why I fully expect him to be a Newlands hero by the time he gets to face his old Cats team at the ground on May 10.