The recent announcement of the nominees for the South African player of the year in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship may have delivered three very deserving candidates, but if you had to ask Vodacom Bulls coach Jake White there should only be one winner: Wilco Louw.
Considering where the Bulls scrum was a few seasons ago, a few changes and the arrival of Louw in particular have made them the most feared scrum machine in the competition.
Of course, it wasn’t all him alone - the appointment of a fulltime scrum coach in Werner Kruger had a lot to do with it, as did Gerhard Steenekamp’s rise at loosehead and Jan-Hendrik Wessels’ meteoric ascent this season as well.
But there are few across the URC stratosphere that will argue that Louw is the one tighthead that most across the competition respect - and some fear - and that the acquisition from Harlequins last season to return to the franchise where he played his junior rugby was one that was a masterstroke from the Bulls.
But it is more than that. As White points out, front row props hardly get their due in the modern game, with the flashy backline players who score audacious tries often getting the plaudits. And that is fine.
Yet, in a world where some in rugby want to outlaw the scrum, and those in power move it continually towards a simple restart rather than an integral battle part of the game, players like Louw become the unicorns - those players that can set the tone of a game with their actions, rather than bluster.
Louw himself is a quiet-spoken guy, shying away from the limelight, but anyone who has stood next to the 6ft 1, 144kg frame knows that he isn’t a guy who will be moved easily - especially with another 800kg behind him.
And it is the technique, rather than just the bulk that makes him so formidable. Over the last few seasons he has improved his handling abilities as well and often pops up as a ball carrier in the Bulls side.
The prospect of a post Kitshoff-Malherbe partnership being replaced by a Nche-Louw partnership in Green and Gold is an exciting one as well, and on consistency alone Louw should walk the title.
Still, there is the age-old question of why props don’t get the plaudits. White hopes this will change with this award.
LOUW BACKED BY WHITE TO WIN
So while Cameron Hanekom is a fine nominee and while Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is also - even though he has arguably only started in five games this season - Louw is the player White has backed to win.
Asked about the two Bulls players nominated, White smiled that they both were forwards.
“Especially two forwards, boys. I mean, I think also, to be fair, it's the old Blue Bulls, Northern Transvaal. And when did you ever get a tight end prop that's been nominated for a prize in South Africa?” White asked.
“I genuinely hope that he (Louw) wins it because I think that everyone spoke about what the premium is on tightheads. You look and see how the Stormers, when they dominated this competition, had Malherbe and Kitsoff. And it just showed the value of having those kinds of players in your front row.
“I know the other players have played well. Cameron and Sascha have played really well. But I think that anyone who understands rugby, knows a tighthead’s worth. Doc Craven always said, when they asked him what's the most important position on the field, he said, tighthead prop.
“And they asked him the second most important, he said, the reserve tighthead prop. And he's, I mean, Doc Craven said that many, many years ago.
“I know I'm obviously biased, but I just think that what he's done for our club and what he's done for our team, just by putting him there, has allowed us to play the way we do. It stresses the importance of having a tighthead prop that can even be nominated.
“I don't remember, in my time, I remember Os du Randt was nominated Rugby Player of the Year, but I can't remember too many other props being close to being on the shortlist for players of any tournament.”
The winner will be announced in the final week of the URC, but at Loftus, with the Bulls’ coaching staff, that award has already been earned by Louw.