The Vodacom Bulls may be eyeing a role for Willie le Roux at 10 against the DHL Stormers in their much-anticipated Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby in Cape Town on Saturday, but the real prize for the Bulls would be to keep Le Roux in Pretoria for another season.
Weekend news reports said that Le Roux’s move to Bath had fallen through and he was now negotiating with the Bulls to stay, and possibly look at a more formal position at 10, especially given the injury woes for Johan Goosen.
But as the backdrop of the north-south derby looms, Le Roux is likely to be front and centre this weekend, and was all the talk during a briefing from coach Jake White.
The veteran Springbok is still in negotiations with the Bulls, and nothing has been finalised, but the Bulls are more than hopeful he will stay.
“ I mean, we didn't want to re-sign him. The bottom line is he had an option to leave,” White clarified when asked by Supersport regarding his situation.
“And I think what's happened is he's probably re-thought about the fact that he might want to keep the option of staying here. And we're over the moon about that. Because it wasn't our call for him to leave.
“It was just an option of two plus one. If you want to stay, we'd like you to. And if you don't, then we understand. And as it's turned out, I mean, I think I get the feeling. It's not formal, but I think I get the feeling we'd like to maybe look at an option of staying. And that's fantastic.”
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White said that Le Roux was “negotiating” when he remarked that if he played 10, he would earn more - with the tongue in cheek reference to flyhalves getting more money than fullbacks.
“I know he jokes about it because he says flyhalvess earn more than fullbacks. So again, he'll have to go and see (CEO) Edgar Rathbone and work out what flyhalves get that play fullback. Because I'm not sure if it's the same as if you have a flyhalf that only plays flyhalf,” White joked.
What isn’t a joke is Le Roux’s influence on the side, and the way he helped the Bulls to win the Jukskei derby coming off the bench a fortnight ago.
“He turned the game on its head. We know what he offers us. We know how good he is,” White said.
“We know when he's on song how important he is to us. And I mean, I think it is important to get the rubber stamp by signing him. Because now we need him to go into that position. And no one's concerned about it. In fact, people are excited about the fact that he could play ten. And that's what's so nice.
“It means that two years ago when we brought him back and we actually signed him for the Bulls, it actually worked out in our favour. Because we've got a lot of good performances out of him in the last two years.”
White will only name his side for the fixture on Friday, but it would be the worst kept secret if Le Roux finds himself in the 10 jersey this weekend.