Cheetahs unearth a 'Black Diamond'
Back in the 1990s South Africa unearthed the Black Pearl, Chester Williams – a player of raw talent and sheer genius.
The Free State Cheetahs believe they have found their very own 'Black Diamond' … a teenager even more exciting than Williams was when he first burst onto the scene.
His name is Raymond Kofi Rhule.
At the start of the year, during the Varsity Cup, 19-year-old Rhule was still playing for the Bloemfontein-based Shimlas' Young Guns (Under-20). Now he is not just a regular starter in the Cheetahs Currie Cup, he also leads the competition in line-breaks.
For Rhule it is been a meteoric rise, but one he thoroughly deserves – as he has taken his chances.
A good case in point is South Africa's victorious march to the IRB Junior Championship earlier this year. Rhule scored twice in the Baby Boks semifinal victory over Argentina, after coming on as a replacement.
And he again put his hand up when he scored a hat-trick for the Cheetahs Under-21 side the week before making his Currie Cup debut earlier this month.
In his three appearances for the Cheetahs senior team he has already scored three tries – indeed a remarkable strike rate.
Cheetahs backline coach Hawies Fourie told this website that he has had his eye on the young man for some time.
"I call him the Black Diamond," Fourie said, adding that he first saw Rhule play when he was at Louis Botha Technical High School.
"He played outside centre … in a schools Sevens tournament," Fourie told this website.
But he earned his senior call-up with a hat-trick for the junior team.
"In our pre-season game against Cardiff Blues, the U21s played against Border [in a curtain raiser] and he scored three tries from outside centre," the backs mentor said.
"He showed that he has something special.
"We brought him into our senior structures and now he has scored three tries in three [Currie Cup] games," Fourie said – a feat that makes Rhule joint leading try scorer, with the Blue Bulls' CJ Stander.
"What really makes him good is that he has the confidence to join play anywhere on the field. He runs incredibly great lines, changes direction late [to leave the defence little time to react] and plays very well off other players.
"If he, [new Springbok] Johan Goosen and [scrumhalf] Sarel Pretorius get to play together for a while, he will get even more dangerous."
Fourie said another great attribute is that he remains calm, communicates well and is not scared to try anything.
"He has everything you need from a wing … including pace in abundance and great feet."
Asked about the great talent, like Goosen and Rhule, coming through at the Cheetahs, Fourie said it is important to give guys like that the room to express themselves.
"You can so easily put them in a box and say you can only do this or that," he said, adding: "That may be the safer option, because every now and then they will make mistakes.
"However, the great things they do far outweigh the occasional mistake that sneaks in.
"It is important to give them a green card to do what they feel, at that moment, is on and play what they see in front of them – that is when they are at their best."
Rhule, a Ghanaian-born player, has come through the systems at the Cheetahs – playing for them at Under-18 (2010), Under-19 (2011) , Varsity Cup Young Guns (Shimlas 2012) and Cheetahs Under-21 (2012).
By Jan de Koning
