Advertisement

Importance of the No 10 writ large

rugby13 May 2019 05:49| © Cycle Lab
By:JJ Harmse
Share
article image
Handre Pollard © Gallo Images

The South African conference in Vodacom Super Rugby remains wide open after a weekend where the value of the flyhalf to the competing teams was again underlined in indelible ink.

In Pretoria Richie Mo’unga produced a masterclass that completely vindicated the theory that it was his absence, along with that of his usual partner in the 10/12 axis at the Crusaders, Ryan Crotty, that cost his team against the Cell C Sharks the week before.

By contrast Handre Pollard turned in his most mediocre performance in a long time. It wasn’t the only reason his team lost as badly as they did, but it was a big factor. Pollard is a class player and important to the Bulls’ chances of success, so it should be a concern to the Bulls’ supporters that their team will be without him for two games during the forthcoming tour of Australasia.

Pollard, like Duane Vermeulen, who was the lone ranger in a Bulls side that otherwise completely misfired against the Crusaders, will be returning to South Africa halfway through the Bulls’ four-match tour as per the Springbok resting protocols. That will hurt the Bulls badly.

It hasn’t been Boks resting protocols that have hurt the Sharks this season. There have been a number of factors, but one of them is questionable selection and questionable match day management of resources.

The Sharks’ final tour match against the Chiefs was in some ways a microcosm of their entire season up to now. In the beginning they looked flat, it looked like being one of those off days of little effort. There were some who still criticised them for lack of effort afterwards, but that may have been unfair, for the Sharks did get into the game from around the quarter of an hour mark and they looked pretty committed.

BOSCH THE CATALYST

The man who sparked them was none other than Curwin Bosch, the player who has been most responsible for the mini turn-around that the Sharks have affected since being away from Durban. There are in fact some other factors, such as the return to the pack of the impressive Ruan Botha and the prodigiously gifted Jean-Luc du Preez, but in terms of the Sharks’ all-round game, Bosch’s return to the No 10 jersey has been the catalyst.

In Hamilton it was Bosch’s little jinking runs that troubled the Chiefs’ defence that galvanised and energised the players around him and got the Durbanites into the game when previously they had appeared to be drifting.

Bosch can be a bit erratic but then maybe that is understandable given that before this tour he hadn’t started at flyhalf in a Super Rugby game since 2017. In other words not since Robert du Preez moved up to Durban to join the franchise coached by his father. There was one Currie Cup game he played at flyhalf in Kimberley last year, when Robert still played alongside him as an inside centre, but that has been it.

On the Sharks’ tour Bosch’s game management played a big role in driving the first win the Sharks have scored against the Waratahs since 2000, his calmness and composure was pivotal in the Sharks’ competitive showing against the Crusaders. While this past weekend the Sharks didn’t win, maybe they would have had coach Robert du Preez not switched Bosch to fullback after 49 minutes.

Aphelele Fassi, the man effectively replaced to accommodate Robert du Preez junior’s arrival at flyhalf, was playing well up to that point. In fact, outside of Bosch he was possibly the Sharks’ most dangerous attacking back and that was borne out by the stats he produced during his 49 minutes on the field: He handled the ball 11 times and ran 57 metres.

Perhaps Fassi was injured but from the outside, given his contribution at the back and Bosch’s influence at pivot, the change made no sense, just as a similar move last week in the 56th minute against Crusaders made no sense. It is true that New Zealand sides do tend to finish strong, but on both occasions winning positions were squandered.

WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN

We can only speculate too on whether maybe it would have gone better for the Sharks in the home games that they lost had Bosch been at flyhalf. The big loss to the Jaguares would still have happened, but the narrow defeats to the Reds and the Bulls, two games where the Sharks did have enough ball but were just way too predictable with it, might not have.

The Sharks weren’t good enough to beat the Chiefs, who deserved to win in Hamilton, but given how tight the South African conference is with just over a month to go, they should be kicking themselves for the soft games that have cost them what could have been a commanding position on the local log.

To be fair, most teams have dropped games they shouldn’t have - the Bulls losing late to the Jaguares, the Stormers’ frustrating home loss to the Brumbies and the Lions defeat to the Stormers in the second week being examples - but the Sharks in particular have managed to conspire against themselves.

For all that they still lead the conference by one point, but the other sides have a game in hand on them. With the Jaguares still due to play three games overseas and the Bulls four, plus the Sharks set to travel in the last two weeks to Buenos Aires and then Cape Town, the two teams at the bottom might indeed be the most dangerous.

STORMERS GAINED MOST

The Stormers gained most from the weekend as, although they didn’t play any of the other teams, they took their opportunity to get ahead and widen the gap. The Sharks could have gone nine points ahead of them but after losing to the Chiefs are only five ahead, meaning one win with a bonus point, and have played one more game. The Stormers play four of their remaining games at home and one in Johannesburg, the Lions have three at home and two away (Durban and Pretoria).

The Lions had Warren Whiteley back for their game against the Waratahs and more should have been expected from them in a game they were in the end lucky to win. It was at Emirates Airline Park too. That flyhalf theme came through again in this game, for it was not one of Elton Jantjies’ more commanding performances.

The Stormers’ big weakness in the last few years, actually more like decades, has been their lack of an international class flyhalf, so the whole flyhalf question could well play a decisive role in determining which teams head into the play-offs.

WEEKEND RESULTS

Blues 12 Hurricanes 22

Rebels 30 Reds 24

Vodacom Bulls 13 Crusaders 45

Highlanders 32 Jaguares 27

Chiefs 29 Cell C Sharks 23

Emirates Lions 29 Waratahs 28

Brumbies 33 Sunwolves 0

Advertisement