Div explains No 9 selection

Out of the debris of a disastrous Springbok Tri-Nations campaign there emerged a few shining lights that suggested that the heart-ache being suffered by the Boks and their supporters might not be all in vain.

For instance, although he gave away the penalty that sunk the Boks against Australia in Bloemfontein, newcomer Flip van der Merwe did look the part as an international lock.

But by far the most encouraging performances came from a youngster who had been earmarked long ago as a potential successor to Fourie du Preez yet who had only played most of his recent top rugby as a wing.

Francois Hougaard’s selection was questioned on the basis of his lack of scrumhalf experience, but he ended up winning over even his biggest detractors.He wouldn’t have been far from winning the man of the match award in the massive test against the All Blacks at FNB Stadium.

His high kicks and his general all-round play was one of the reasons why the Boks were so competitive in that match, with the Kiwis only winning it with a late flurry of scoring when the South Africans were clearly out on their feet and had run out of tacklers.

Hougaard was so outstanding that some of us at times found it hard to distinguish him from the absent Du Preez.

Sure, they are different players, but in some senses it was as if Du Preez was actually playing and it was not a relative newcomer wearing the No 9. Hougaard never quite sustained that form in the remaining matches, but still, he did enough to suggest he was a capable stand-in for Du Preez.

So the decision to drop Hougaard for the match against Ireland was a mystery, particularly as the man who replaced him, Ruan Pienaar, has never really been backed by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers as a scrumhalf.

For a long time earlier in the season De Villiers played Ricky Januarie ahead of Pienaar, and in the build-up phase to the Tri-Nations, the coach was criticised for not giving Pienaar any game-time in his preferred position.

He did look the part when he came on as a replacement in the second half of the second match against the All Blacks in Wellington, but he was poor in the last test of the overseas leg of the Tri-Nations against the Wallabies in Brisbane.

This was perhaps understandable, for it was his first start in a No 9 jersey since the Super 14.

However the coach, when finally asked the direct question at a press conference following the team announcement for the Wales test on Tuesday, gave a response that both explained the selection and gave an insight into the Bok approach from here on.

“Ruan played scrumhalf for us at the end of the Tri-Nations tour and then he was injured, which was why Francois Hougaard was called in for the home matches,” said De Villiers.

“Ruan was the choice before his injury, and he also has the kicking game we need in these matches. He is the scrumhalf that is most likely to give us something of what Fourie du Preez gives us when he is fit.”

In saying that, De Villiers was repeating what the Sharks coaches have been saying for a long time: Pienaar is a fine scrumhalf who has a boot that can be invaluable to the team. And the reference to Du Preez is a reminder of just how important the first choice No 9 is to the Boks.

This being so, it can be seen as a statement of intent to continue with the tried and tested Bok template, and though there has been a lot of talk from everyone about the need to use the backs more at the Millennium Stadium – though significantly enough not from the head coach, who says he just wants to win – there is unlikely to be any radical reinvention of the Bok game.

There didn’t seem too much wrong with Hougaard’s kicking game at FNB Stadium, but selecting a player to the position because of his similarity to Du Preez does have merit.

When squads are selected it is sometimes argued that the two scrumhalves should be dissimilar so that different options can be offered, but in South Africa’s case the utility value of Pienaar could make it possible to take three scrumhalves to next year’s World Cup – Du Preez, Pienaar and Hougaard.

So the form of Pienaar on this tour is going to come under close scrutiny and scrumhalf may in the end prove to be one of the few areas where progress will be made on this tour towards next year’s World Cup – with much of the rest of the Bok quest being just about regaining pride and a sense of equilibrium after the mid-year disasters.