It is a new world in rugby, and has been for a while, with rugby no longer played by teams of 15 players but squads of 23 and the bench is really now an impact squad primed to change or close out a game rather than a group of substitutes waiting to come on for the tired and injured.
Despite that reality, you still read or hear people describing players who are moved from the starting team to a bench role as being dropped, and what is even rarer is a player who comes out and says he’s been invigorated by taking on the role of impact sub and almost hinting that it’s something he might almost be prepared to specialise in.
Hollywoodbets Sharks looseforward Phepsi Buthelezi came pretty close to doing that when he went in front of the media in the buildup to Saturday’s opening Investec Champions Cup Pool 1 game against Exeter Chiefs at Hollywoodbets Kings Park.
Buthelezi made his first start for the Springboks as an openside flank earlier this season, while he has also played No 8, which most would consider his regular position, and blindside flank for the Sharks.
Sound like someone else who has done well for himself on the rugby field and become a regular Bok hero?
You could be thinking of Kwagga Smith, who although he started when he played his landmark 50th game recently, has made an art of being a finisher who can be used anywhere in the back row off the bench.
Buthelezi, a 25-year-old product of DHS, genuinely doesn’t mind playing so many different positions.
'GIVE IT YOUR ALL' NO MATTER WHAT
Instead he welcomes it, as he also welcomes his current role as a member of the Sharks’ version of the Boks’ famous bomb squad.
“I wouldn’t say it makes life more difficult (to be preparing each week to play all three back row positions), it is a role I have always had at the Sharks,” said Buthelezi.
“Even when I have been starting in a certain position, I have had to prepare for the eventuality that later in the game I’d have to change positions. I cover all roles, and that suits me. I like being versatile and I have always enjoyed having different (potential) roles coming off the bench. Playing off the bench is a refreshing change for me and it is something I want to become really good at.”
In line with the modern view, Buthelezi doesn’t see playing off the bench as an inferior role to being part of the starting team.
“At the Sharks we do have the same attitude towards the place of the bench in our strategy that the Boks do, and that mindset has always been the same,” he said.
“It is something we pride ourselves on, trying to finish games well. As impact players we come on at the most important time of the game. So it really doesn’t matter who starts. When you step onto the field in the Sharks jersey, regardless of whether you are starting or operating as a finisher, you just give it your all. That is the message and the way we approach it.”
SCAVENGING SKILLS
As he is a mobile player in the mould of not only Smith but also another product of DHS who made it big with the Sharks back when they were playing as Natal and known as the Banana Boys, Andrew Aitken, who was part of the first Natal Currie Cup winning team in 1990, Buthelezi does have the attributes to reprise the Smith role - not just at the Sharks but in time possibly with the Boks too.
After all, Smith is not going to play forever, and Buthelezi is six years younger than the former Blitzbok and Emirates Lions stalwart.
By being experimented with as an openside flank, Buthelezi has started to equip himself with the scavenging skills that are the hallmark of the traditional No 6.
“I was happy to be tried on the openside when I played for the Boks. I enjoy playing there, but in actual fact I really don’t mind where I play in the back row - openside, blindside or No 8. Just as long as I can get onto the field and contribute to the team cause I really don’t mind what number I wear on my back.”
The aforementioned Aitken started out his Natal career at No 8, as did Buthelezi, but was moved to openside flank when he moved to Western Province because WP’s legendary Tiaan Strauss, known as “the lion of the Kalahari”, was the team captain and was also a No 8.
When Aitken played for the Boks under the coaching of Nick Mallett it was as a No 6, and that’s the number he had on his back when, playing instead of the injured regular Bok No 6 of that time, Rassie Erasmus, he was part of the Bok team that scored an historic Tri-Nations win over the All Blacks in Wellington in 1998.