Springboks who have only ever played for one club or franchise from school level are as rare as…well, as rare as quality tighthead props, which makes the fact that Frans Malherbe is reaching his milestone 150th DHL Stormers cap against the Emirates Lions on Saturday extra special.
Tightheads may not be the most fashionable players for the watching rugby public.
The 1995 Bok Rugby World Cup triumph will forever be remembered more for flyhalf Joel Stransky’s drop-goal that separated the scores in the final against the All Blacks than for Balie Swart’s heroic and gutsy refusal to go backwards in the scrums in the epic semifinal against France in Durban.
That’s just life, or rugby reality, but it is also a rugby reality that the players who wear the No 3 on the back are as sought after by recruiters at club level as players in the more fashionable positions.
In fact, a lot more so, and since making his Stormers debut way back in 2011 after being introduced to the squad by being part of the training group the year before, Malherbe has had many suitors, particularly among the chairmen or owners of the financially flush French clubs.
That he’s stayed put, the only other Stormers centurion to reach that mark without ever playing for another club being hooker Scarra Ntubeni, is just crazy considering what he must have been offered.
HE DIDN’T STAY JUST FOR THE LIFESTYLE
Surely it goes further than just that, as Stormers assistant coach Dawie Snyman put it, “there’s no hunting in France.”
Malherbe, brought up in Bredasdorp, loves the bush and Stormers head coach John Dobson often jokes about the kudu population in the Karoo being under threat whenever his ace tighthead has down time.
“There is hunting in France, it is just more difficult,” said Malherbe with a small grin and slight shrug of the shoulders in response to Snyman’s chirp.
Nope, there is a reason that contributed to Malherbe staying in Cape Town apart from his love of the South African lifestyle: every time someone tried to lure him to an overseas club, his employers both at Western Province/Stormers and South African Rugby have come up with a counter-offer that made him possible to stay.
“I can’t take all the credit for the fact that I am still here, credit must also be given to the chances I was offered to stay here,” said the double Bok World Cup winner.
“You can say it is loyalty that kept me here so long, but I really can’t take that credit myself. Both the Stormers and SA Rugby gave me alternative options (to going overseas), and they were good options that made it possible for me to stay. That is the reason why I am one of those privileged guys who can still play at this stage of my career for the team that I supported when I was a kid.”
Apart from Ntubeni, who came through the same WP Academy intake as Malherbe back in 2010, the only other player on the Stormers books who comes anywhere near such singular unbroken focus to the Cape team’s cause is Damian Willemse.
The Bok utility back has more than 90 Stormers caps and while he did play a few games for Saracens during the 2019 off-season, he was still officially a Stormers player at the time so it doesn’t count.
LIKELY TO OVERTAKE VETERAN BROK AS MOST CAPPED
All the other Stormers centurions, like Schalk Burger, Jean de Villiers, Peter Grant, Steven Kitshoff and Brok Harris played for other clubs at some point of their careers.
Of course Malherbe may still do so, but it appears unlikely. What appears more likely given that Malherbe is as immoveable when it comes to where he lives as he is in the scrums, is that in time he will catch up with Harris.
The veteran Harris, who doubles as a scrum coach as well as a player, turns 40 next week, whereas Malherbe will turn 34 next month.
“I can’t promise anything but that would be amazing,” said Malherbe when it was suggested he could become the first Stormers player to hit the 200 mark.
Catching Harris’s 164 caps to become the most capped Stormers player in history is well within his sights.
That is even though, as a Bok, he will get to play less regularly for the Stormers than other players, and of course being a Bok there is also more chance of him being injured.
“I didn’t think back in 2011, when I first played for the Stormers after first being part of the squad the year before, that I would be playing my 149th game,” says Malherbe.
“I can remember my 100th which was at Newlands, and that was a memorable experience. It is great to be playing my 150th at another iconic stadium (Emirates Airlines Park) in a very tough game. It is important though that I focus on the game and not the milestone.”
That was a typical rugby player team orientated response, but Malherbe does acknowledge that reaching the 150 mark is something for him to be very proud of, although he refuses to rank it alongside his other achievements like the two World Cup wins in Japan and France in 2019 and 2023 respectively.
“That is a really difficult question and you can’t really compare this to the other stuff. There is no comparison as they are really different achievements. There is also a fine line between feeling very proud and then actually focusing on the game. I say this in a good and positive way, it is just another game. If you make it all about yourself you fall into the trap of not focusing enough on the game.”
It is a game the Stormers desperately need to win if they are to reignite a drive for a top half finish on the URC log that has faltered over the past two matches with defeats against Leinster away and the Bulls at home.
The loss to the Bulls hurt, particularly as it was at the Stormers fortress of DHL Stadium, their first derby defeat at home since they lost to the Lions there in late 2021.
But Malherbe is adamant that he and his teammates are not thinking about their parlous log position heading into the Johannesburg game.
“It is not yet mid-February. The URC final is on 1 June. I am not saying we can leave it for later, but if we were in the top two or four right now our approach going into this game would be no different to what it is going in 10th - it is still week for week and week for week we have to give our best. Every week we have different opponents to beat and you have to be at your best.”
HE TAKES SCRUM MISFIRE ON THE CHIN
The 144 kg product of Paarl Boys High was subjected to a rare experience in the Bulls match, being part of a losing Stormers scrum.
At least in the first half. There was also a game not that long ago against Sale Sharks where he suffered the indignity of being yellow carded after an umpteenth scrum malfunction.
It might be typical of Malherbe that when the opportunity was offered to him to blame the refereeing interpretations, like his coaches kind of did following the Sale game, he refused to take it.
“On the referees, they are not so bad. It is up to the players to show a picture to make it easier for the refs,” he says.
“If you don’t do that, it is your fault, so I take that on myself. When it comes to the opposition looseheads, when you are scrummed by them you have to take it on the chin. And just be honest and work on doing better going forward. You have to recognise it when you are outscrummed and then move and get it right.”
He feels that is something the Stormers scrum unit has to do this week as they internalise the learnings from their experience against the Bulls ahead of the clash in Johannesburg with a pack that Malherbe appears to rate highly.
“When it comes to Saturday’s game, first and foremost we have to be better (than we were against the Bulls). Over the years the Lions have boasted a very respected scrum. They are solid and strong and scrum together as a unit,” said Malherbe.
HIS ATTACKING GAME FLOURISHED AGAINST BULLS
You might be forgiven though for thinking that if he stops contributing in the scrums Malherbe might find himself finding a role in the backline such was his contribution to the Stormers’ attacking efforts against the Bulls.
While they were hammered in the scrums, and were under pressure in the lineouts, the Stormers managed to still score five tries - and among those was one by Malherbe himself and also what you’d refer to in soccer parlance as an assist.
The try came when lock Ruben van Heerden popped the ball to him and he crossed for the first Stormers try, while it was his pass, when popping up in the midfield, that unlocked the path for fullback Warrick Gelant to score his team’s bonus point fourth try.
Although he has long been responsible for getting the scoreboard moving by forcing scrum penalties, tries have been in short supply in his 149 matches so Saturday’s was one to make a fuss over.
“There haven’t been many of them so it is easy for me to add them up, I think that was my fifth try (for the Stormers),” said the world rated front row forward.
“When it comes to my pass to Warrick, sometimes us props do find ourselves there in the middle suddenly with the ball in your hands and when that happens it is just important to keep a cool head and not to think you can get through (by yourself) because if you do that you will definitely get chased down. So I was just pleased to get the ball to Warrick,” he added with typical front-row style self-deprecation.