VIDEO: Jake White's embarrassment of hybrid riches
WATCH as Bulls Director of Rugby Jake White explained his thought process in his team selection following his side’s 31-19 United Rugby Championship win over the Lions at Loftus Versfeld.
White opted for the traditional five-three forward heavy bench split in the match against the Lions as opposed to the more popularised six-two split thanks to Bok coach Rassie Erasmus.
The World Cup winning coach, however, took a page from Erasmus’ book by explaining his selection of hybrid players who can easily slot in at various positions if push comes to shove.
White conceded that he didn’t know if loose forward Marco van Staden could complete the match and his bench selection had sufficient preparation for that scenario.
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“I wasn’t sure how long Marco van Staden could last,” White said.
“I knew Grobbies [Johan Grobbelaar] could go to No.6, so I pulled the trigger early on Jan-Hendrink [Wessels] going to prop.
“If Marco [van Staden] had said ‘Listen, I’m cramping and really tired’ I’d just move Grobbies to No.6, put Alulutho [Tshakweni] to prop and move Jan-Hendrik to hooker.
“It was one of those ideas that I had – Jan-Hendrik has played the last three weeks at loosehead prop.
“The adaption of going to loosehead prop for me was probably a bit easier than it would have been to put him straight to hooker.
“And he did well – when he came on at hooker we won all our line-outs he was involved in.
“It’s a wonderful thing to have versatile players – I mean Marco [van Staden] has played hooker for South Africa as well.
“So we’re sitting in a very good position that we can have games where Marco can be on the bench as a hooker and not necessarily play him there because he can end up at the side of the scrum [at loose forward].”
White also had high praise for another versatile player in Keagan Johannes who can cover both the scrumhalf and flyhalf positions.
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“Because he’s [Keagan Johannes] so versatile he’s going to be very important for us going forward,” the Bulls Director of Rugby said.
“He was always a No.10 at school, that’s the ironic thing, and then he sort of moved to No.9.
“I was thinking about it this week… I’ve coached all over the world and you get guys like [Frederic] Michalak, Morgan Parra etc play No.9 and No.10 for France.
“It’s very normal in France that a No.9 moves to flyhalf, look at Antoine Dupont.
“Sometimes there’s a reason for it – there’s an understanding about when you’re a good scrumhalf what a flyhalf wants and vice versa.
“I’m fully aware that he’s got rugby in him, Doc Craven would say ‘he’s a footballer’, that quote will always go whenever people talk about rugby.
“And he is a footballer, we just wish he’d kick the ball out directly when we get a penalty,” White jokingly added.
White also provided insight on how he can use Johannes’ versatility to spice up his replacement bench selection in the future and possibly fill the No.10 gap the Bulls currently have with Johan Goosen still out injured.
“The nice thing is we can do a six-two [forward heavy bench split] like other sides do because he can play No.9 and flyhalf in a week where you don’t have to put a scrumhalf on the bench because he can play both,” White told @rugby365com.
“Those are things you’ve seen that worked in world rugby for many teams.
“If you got a guy that can play scrumhalf and flyhalf, you put him on the bench as a back and you can probably go with six forwards [on the bench] in certain games as well.
“It is a massive bonus to have for us.”
By Angus Opperman and Annemie Bester
