And that is what I like so much about him as a player; he just won’t fit the
stereotype of the Springboks. He is not a wall of muscle that looks for
confrontation and physical domination whether they are packs or backs. Nor
is he the type of man to only smile when he has battered you into
submission, bearing his teeth in a shark-like grimace of a ruthlessly
efficient gain-line hammering machine.
No, Le Roux is a man who smiles from the get-go, ball in two hands,
goose-stepping, willing to try his hand, have a go and trust his speed and
step. We all like seeing something new, something a little different, and in
terms of production line South African rugby players this guy has broken the
mould and the team around him are benefiting as a result.
His movement around backlines in his early career – he has played in most
positions throughout his career – means that he is very happy to step in and
become a first receiver, to play the pivot role and offer another slant on
proceedings. Morné Steyn is now able to step out of front line duty for a
couple of phases and this is adding real balance to South Africa.
Le Roux’s left foot gives the Boks another safety value in defence when they
are stuck deep. The extra option makes it harder for their opponents to shut
them down and put on the pressure.
At the same time, he is a very busy player. Maybe it’s the fear of being
caught by the monsters around him, but at the moment he can’t get his hands
on the ball enough. Set piece moves are based around him, often seeing the
scrum-half pass directly to him at midfield scrums, going either way, giving
him the flexibility to decide, a brave movement away from the somewhat
regimented three-quarter decision making of earlier Bok sides.
The game against Argentina summed up a lot of what I like about him. In a
tense affair away in Argentina, Le Roux was the only man who looked as if he
had time on his hands, and feet, a wonderfully subtle pass setting up the
try for Wouter Basson that ultimately stopped the rot in Mendoza. Against
Australia he was brilliant late on, teaching the Wallabies a lesson that
they had in the past so enjoyed dishing out their opponents. Ball in two
hands, defenders sucked in, an early ball created the space that was needed.
It sounds so simple but it is all about that special understanding of
knowing when a defender has overcommitted even if they are still five yards
away. Very few players have that. Very few can matador in that way. As a
result, Zane Kirchner walked in untouched as defenders, including Will
Genia, all went scooting for Le Roux just as the ball went the other way.
Then, only moments later, Genia was tormented again. As Genia did to Tom Croft
and Mike Phillips in the first Lions Test in Brisbane, so Le Roux did to
Genia. A man outside him, Le Roux kept his shoulders square to the try line
from 40 metres out, the ball swaying in two hands, moving Genia like a snake
charmer, until the scrum-half gave up and drifted thinking that Le Roux
would use the early ball. He didn’t, and when the gap opened up, he went
through it.
The final score was 38-12 and while the Springboks battered the Aussies in
Australia, what made it even more impressive was that they had real skill
and movement in the victory.
Springboks fans will be shouting at me, saying that their teams have always
moved the ball, and they are right up to a point. The Springboks can pass,
but it has never been as fluid as the Australians or the All Blacks. They
have been efficient and effective. Now they are starting to get some
artistry, and it is making them a very difficult team to beat.
They are still performing to their usual excellent standards in the set piece
and the breakdown. So far in the Rugby Championship South Africa has a 100
per cent record in the scrum, a 93 per cent success rate in the line-out and
have conceded the fewest penalties of all the sides involved. Those are
world-beater statistics, and there are a lot of other things to admire as
well. Bismarck du Plessis and Eben Etzebeth give dynamism to their gnarly
front five.
The back row has Duane Vermeulen right up there in an old-school way, Willem
Alberts demanding attention in a modern wall knocking down way, and Francois
Louw deadly to anything on the deck. The tempo is controlled by the master
Fourie du Preez. Field position and points are down to Steyn.
The glue is the skipper in the back line Jean de Villiers, a man for whom we
should all have the utmost respect. An incredible rugby journey, a survivor.
There is pace with JJ Engelbrecht, Kirchner and Habana.
It is an impressive line up, and yet, for all its power and ferocity, it is
somewhat one dimensional, although don’t fly me to Johannesburg and ask me
to tell them. You know what is coming, and because of that, you can prepare.
You may not be able to handle it every time, but you can get ready. Throw Le
Roux into the mix, chuck in this joker, and South Africa suddenly have
something that the opposition struggle to adjust to. The big guys buy him
space, and he is off. He buys the big guys space, and they are away. He
brings balance and that is vital because to be a great team, you need to be
able to offer two different styles.
The All Blacks have been the masters of plan A and plan B for years (the clue
is in the title). They have always done balance, and can decide to shut it
down and knuckle it out, or spread it wide and hunt for pace and fluidity.
Close the All Blacks down in one area and they take you out elsewhere. The
South Africans have always been a little more reliant on plan A.
With Le Roux, out on the wing they now have another option and while he can’t
win a match on his own, he might go a long way to deciding who triumphs when
the world’s two best teams face each other. It will be brutal. There will be
bone crunching, hide behind the sofa action. And in the middle of it all
will be Le Roux, still looking like an outsider, and all the more dangerous
for it.
South Africa v New Zealand is the biggest game in world rugby and Willie le ...
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