Andre Esterhuizen’s appearance at the side of the scrum, packing down at flank rather than being in the midfield where he normally resides, has been hailed as a breakthrough for hybrid players over the past week.
It is the next step of a long and well-thought-out plan to stay ahead of the chasing pack, by utilising the one aspect which is starting to shape rugby for coaches across the world.
Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus isn’t the first to try a hybrid player system, but the way he has embraced players in multiple positions has given the Boks an edge over their rivals worldwide. While the rest are still trying to work out counters to Erasmus’ selections, the Boks are powering forward with new innovations to keep the world talking.
The Bok coach has previously used Grant Williams and Kwagga Smith on the wing. We’ve seen Damian de Allende jump in the lineout on occasion, and Cheslin Kolbe has pivoted in and out of scrumhalf at times, all giving Erasmus options for the bench and the much-vaunted bomb squad that has been so debated over the past few years.
While there are those who don’t like it, it is an acknowledgement of how rugby is evolving, and how coaches are finding ways to find new areas to exploit as margins get smaller and analysis gets deeper, leaving little room for error.
The basis though, is that nothing changes in terms of the Bok mindset. The setpiece dominance, the physicality and the kicking game are still key elements in any international team, especially the Green and Gold.
BASICS NON-NEGOTIABLE
Handre Pollard expressed it clearly when asked about the attacking evolution this week, saying the attack could still improve, but that the basics are non-negotiable.
“Defences are still key to winning World Cups and competitions. That will be the core fundamental of any team still, as well as a kicking game. I just think there was a lot of room for improvement on attack over the last few years,” Pollard said this week.
“Back in the day, the New Zealand teams may have been unlocking that a bit earlier and we were trusting our defence and kicking game at that time. We have since seen there is another layer to us, and we can unlock our attack as well. It is not massive, it is not crazy, but it is just minor adjustments here and there.
“At the core of our game will always be our physicality and being direct. That is who we are as a nation and as a team, and we will never shy away from that. Our setpiece dominance is going to be key to any game we are going to play. But if we can sprinkle something extra onto our attack, just to take us to the next level, that is our goal.”
That something extra is the key ingredient in any attack and Esterhuizen fits the bill. As a 1.93m, 115kg talent, he has the size to be a forward, the speed to be a back, and the hands to play anywhere.
OTHER HYBRID PLAYERS
He isn’t alone. There are others in the Bok camp who can follow suit and play in different positions. Marco van Staden played as a hooker in the World Cup and the Boks have never been shy to try something new.
This week former Springbok assistant coach and current head coach of the Glasgow Warriors, Franco Smith, agreed with the trend of hybrid players becoming more of an option for coaches.
Smith tried something similar with Stafford McDowall, the Scottish midfielder who jumped in the lineout and turned out in the midfield for Glasgow in the United Rugby Championship and he is convinced that going forward, teams are going to want “their best players on the field at all times”.
The hybrid option allows coaches to use their X-factor players if they can double up in other positions, rather than getting just a 20-minute option out of a player. Where you have two stars in the same position, the hybrid option can offer both players on the field at the same time.
BEST PLAYERS ON THE PITCH
“You need your best players out on the pitch,” Smith offered, adding that McDowall made a difference for Glasgow. “Rugby must adapt from its traditional roles”.
“I'm absolutely all about having the best rugby players on the pitch, not necessarily the best loose forwards or the best backline. It's all about having quality rugby players out there. Yes, there's precision-specific roles like the front row, which will never change and it will be tough to adapt to them.
“But to cover for red cards and for yellow cards and then at the same time add a bit of spice towards the back end of a game with somebody with that potential, why not?”
The hybrid option will also give the Boks an extra lift when it comes to confusing the opposition a bit more in trying to analyse them. Now, when a Bok bench is a six-two, are the two backs going to play in the forwards or not?
That may sound a bit ridiculous, but if Esterhuizen is on a bench in future, it will make opposition coaches think twice about his role in the second half - ditto for a Kwagga Smith. The Boks could virtually cover an 8-0 bench with it looking like a traditional 5-3, and that’s the beauty of the move.
BEAUTY IS IN THE DOUBT IT CREATES
Far from being the black and white success for the Esterhuizen experiment, the beauty is in the doubt it creates in the minds of others, and how teams will approach the Boks in future. By doing this, the Boks have given them another factor to take into account, and one that will be tough to counter.
Erasmus said this week his idea isn’t as radical as it seems, especially considering that, outside of set-pieces like scrums and lineouts, players don’t need to stick to specialist positions. The game is evolving, and players are expected to be increasingly versatile.
Midfielders are jacklers now, and everyone is expected to fill any role in defence, so the hybrid option makes a lot more sense.
“I can't talk for the rest of the world. I can only talk about what we think. It's our opinion that we think what works for us in South Africa with the players that we have. To think Damian Willemse plays 10, 12 and 15 and is doing well there. He's also a bit of a hybrid player. In the old days, Naas Botha didn’t play 12 and 15, he just played 10.
“Sascha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) can play 10, 12, and 15. Manie (Libbok) can play 10 and 15. Handre (Pollard) can play 10 and 12. And to get back to Andre, and I'm not saying that's how the rest of the world must think. But it's actually just scrums and line-outs where we have positions.
“You want to have your 9 and 10 in position, and probably your 15 in position. And Jesse (Kriel), your 13 in defence. But then after that is general play.
"So let's say there are 12 scrums in a game, 15 line-outs. But there are 150 rucks. At those rucks, it's very much general play.
So if the guys can master the set phases, which I think Andre does really well. His role is pretty much like the 6-flanker in general play and defence and on attack. I don't think players can just swap him from prop to wing,” Erasmus laughed.
“But I think there are certainly certain, in our opinion, positions that can flow into each other.”
DIFFERS FROM PLAYER TO PLAYER
Erasmus added that it will differ from player to player and you don’t want to create hybrid players who aren’t specialists anymore, but rather add to their skills so they can become more useful for the Boks in future.
“A guy like Andre, you don't want to make him a guy who's a flank and a loose forward. You want him to be a centre who can also play loose forward. So you want him to start these matches at 12 as well. I do think it also makes his career a little longer.
“If he just plays 12, you either start or you are not in the match day 23. For him to get closer into the mix and more regularly into the 23, being able to play 6 and 12, or 8 and 12. A player like that will probably get more in the matchday 23, where he's just an out-and-out 12.
“You don't put a specialist 12 maybe on the bench. So it differs from player to player. (15:15) A guy like Kwagga, we've only used him in a 6-2 split twice. I think, at wing, when we had to on a day when we had three backline injuries.
“But Franco Mostert is a 7 and a 4. Vincent (Tshituka) can play 4 as well, and is a 7. Kwagga is a 6-8 and a wing.
“I don't know if the rest of the world will do it like that, but for us, we really like it when guys in general are able to do more than one job. He's just going to handle the set phases. So we've got our planning, but, you know, people can quickly disrupt that and beat us, and we have to go back in our box a little bit again and start again.”
While it remains to be seen if others make the switch and are hybrid players between the forwards and backs, Erasmus has again set a trend that will be followed across the world. And it has made those who feel they may have worked the Boks out think again.
That is the mastery of it. Forcing your opponents to re-examine their perceptions while keeping ahead of the chasing pack.