The Springboks need Jean de Villiers for the Rugby World Cup

If the Springboks are to stand any chance of winning the 2015 World Cup, they need inspirational captain Jean de Villiers leading the assault.

The only questions are whether or not de Villiers will be fit and on form come the global showpiece and if he’ll deflect the challenge presented to him by numerous other players for the coveted Springbok jersey.

Springbok mentor Heyneke Meyer has said that the fact de Villiers is the captain won’t save him from the axe if he isn’t going to perform to the standards needed for Test match rugby.

The return of Victor Matfield has also put a spanner in the works for the Stormers stalwart, as it means that not only does de Villiers have competition for the starting berth at inside centre, he also has to compete with the experience and reputation of Matfield for the captaincy.

If Matfield hadn’t retired in 2011, he would have been chosen ahead of de Villiers as the Springboks captain in 2012. Meyer regards Matfield as the greatest lock in rugby history, and one of the greatest leaders to ever grace the field.

Jean de Villiers on the other hand has a mountain to climb if he wants to regain his place and role within the team. First he’ll need to fully recover in time for the World Cup, and even if he succeeds in doing so, he’ll need to regain his form quickly by either playing for the Springboks in this year’s Rugby Championship, or for Western Province in the Currie Cup. If he succeeds in regaining his mojo he’ll also need to outplay no less than five other inside centres for starting honours.

If there is one position where the Springboks are well stocked, it’s 12. In this year’s Super Rugby there have been plenty of youngsters putting their hands up and adding to the pressure is a couple of other recent Springboks that boast the experience needed to play in the World Cup.

Cheetahs centre Francois Venter, a man standing at 186cm and 96kg, has been playing well for a struggling side in this year’s Super Rugby, as has gigantic former Baby Boks and current Sharks centre Andre Esterhuizen, a 21-year-old juggernaut of 193cm and 110kg. It is highly unlikely that either of these two will be included in the Springboks squad, but anything can happen in the next few months.

At the Bulls and Lions, Burger Odendaal (188cm, 98kg) and Harold Vorster (188cm, 101kg) have certainly captured the attention of the national selectors with some very admirable showings, especially Vorster. Odendaal however has the drawback of playing second fiddle to incumbent Springbok centre Jan Serfontein, and it’s hard seeing Meyer cap the young centre this year if he isn’t even first choice at his local franchise.

Then you have the three musketeers who have played for the Springboks in recent years, Serfontein, Francois Steyn and Damian de Allende.

Serfontein (188cm, 97kg) has proven himself to be a solid Test player after being chosen as the best of the best in the junior ranks in 2012. He is possibly the fastest of the lot, a prolific tackler as his stats from last year prove, and has the ability to get over the gainline efficiently. Meyer played him at outside centre last year, at least defensively, to no real effect and that is where Serfontein’s weakness lies. Despite his early reputation for being an exciting, attacking player he no longer possesses the x-factor and guile that made him a superstar in the junior levels. Now he is used primarily as a crash-ball centre. It is a job he does well, but it’s not the sort of play the Springboks need if they want to evolve their game.

Damian de Allende (189cm, 105kg) is currently the form centre in South African rugby and possibly poses the biggest threat to de Villiers. His Stormers teammate has shown some incredible form in the past two Super Rugby seasons, but in 2015 he has shown his true potential.

De Allende outplayed both Serfontein and Steyn in his respective matches against the Bulls and Sharks, and he has also impressed against his New Zealand counterparts Sonny Bill Williams and Ma’a Nonu.

What makes de Allende such a promising aspect is that he possesses a natural feel for an attacking game unlike his two rivals. He is the only centre in South Africa that holds the ball in two hands and looks for the offload. His distribution is good and his footwork isn’t bad either.

If there is one stat that de Allende won’t like it is his missed tackles, also he does tend to play a little too selfishly from time to time. While it is true that he links and distributes well, sometimes he doesn’t give the pass when he needs to and sometimes he passes when he should hold on and secure front-foot ball. These are aspects he’ll need to pick up with more experience.

Lastly we have Francois Steyn (191cm, 106kg), a player who was so promising in 2006. When on form I have always considered Steyn to be the most talented Springbok on the field. When he started he had the size to be imposing on attack and defence, he had a good offload much like de Allende, he had a prolific boot and he had the mental agility to prosper in tough and important games.

I like Steyn as a player and I have always rated him, but since his titanic contribution for the Boks in the 2011 World Cup, he has regressed heavily as a player and it’s sad to see. He weighed in at 120kg when he returned to the Sharks in 2012 and struggled to get back to his fighting weight of 106kg. He’s had problems with SARU and these problems remain unresolved, meaning we might not even see him at the World Cup this year.

The final threat comes in the form of Handre Pollard. No doubt many of you are scratching your heads at this, but unfortunately it is a distinct possibility.

Meyer has five fly-halves he can choose from, from a realistic point of view. Elton Jantjies has made a tangible difference for the Lions this year and Johan Goosen, a player Meyer rates highly, is also still in the Springbok fold. Morne Steyn has proven himself time and again in the past – being a personal favourite of the coach always helps too.

But the player who might find himself chosen ahead of Pollard is Sharks pivot Patrick Lambie. Lambie possesses the calm demeanour that Meyer wants in his 10, he has the boot for it, he tackles well and he can take on the defence if he is given the freedom to do so.

Jesse Kriel has emerged as the logical backup for Willie le Roux at fullback so there is no real need to play Lambie at 15 and aside from that Meyer has the inexplicable infatuation with Zane Kirchner in the Test stage, so it is safe to say that Lambie will enjoy some game time in his preferred position.

The Bulls experimented with Pollard at inside centre during last year’s Currie Cup semi-final, an experiment that failed miserably as they went down to Western Province at Newlands, but that didn’t stop Heyneke Meyer from contemplating the same madness for the Springboks. In fact Meyer came out saying that he has always thought that Pollard would be an even better inside centre and that he has thought of playing him there.

So what would be better than having Pollard start at fly-half and having Lambie come on in the second half or visa-versa? Playing Lambie at fly-half and Pollard at inside centre of course. It may be a bit of a stretch, but it is a possibility with Meyer. He is very unpredictable at times.

So the five rivals that de Villiers will realistically have to beat out are de Allende, Serfontein, Steyn, Vorster and Pollard. Can he contend with these up-and-comers? To know we’ll have to fully analyse the impact that Jean de Villiers can bring to the team on and off the field.

In his prime, de Villiers was regularly touted as the best inside centre in world rugby. Not only was he considered by many to be the best 12, he was also considered to be part of the best centre combination in the world at the time, alongside former Stormers partner Jaque Fourie.

In 2009, legendary All Blacks boss Graham Henry claimed that de Villiers and Fourie were the best centre combo in the world, greater even than Nonu and Conrad Smith. To receive such an accolade from a New Zealander, from a country that continuously produces the best midfielders is quite an honour, but it does raise the question of why they were so good as a partnership?

As individuals, de Villiers and Fourie may not have been considered the world’s best in their respective positions. They were world-class players, but probably not the best. Ma’a Nonu may have been better than de Villiers and Smith would most likely have been considered to be better than Jaque Fourie as would Brian O’ Driscoll, but as a combination the general consensus was de Villiers and Fourie.

Herein lies Jean de Villiers’ secret.

De Villiers is at his best when he works with his outside centre. He is not a player with x-factor, his passes aren’t the best, he rarely offloads, his kicking is sufficient though not spectacular, and while he can carry and crash ball well, he’s not a Damian de Allende who can break defenders in the contact. That’s not where his strengths are.

Three things made him a great player while playing with Fourie.

He and Fourie had a trust and a near telepathic understanding of one another. In fact they knew each other so well that they could effortlessly switch positions on attack and defence and still work effectively. They often came up on defence simultaneously and when de Villiers went for the interception, as he did regularly, Fourie knew and adjusted his defensive channel accordingly.

The second attribute that served him well was his level-headedness and his patience on the field, a gift that neither Steyn, Serfontein and de Allende have. He is seldom rattled in a game and he often calms down those around him, a trait that most likely contributed to his selection as Stormers and Springbok captain.

The third is that what he lacks in x-factor and handling ability, he makes up with his running lines. De Villiers has a history of breaking the line with a fast swerve in his running lines and passing the ball on to his outside player who then does the rest. A quick look at his tributes posted on Youtube shows this clearly. He doesn’t sidestep the opposition, he just served his lane past the defender and distributes. This is what made de Villiers and Fourie so effective.

Most international teams, including New Zealand, play a big, direct inside centre and a skilful, agile outside centre. The Springboks back then played it the other way around, with an inside centre like de Villiers who looked to break the line instead of playing the crash ball, and a big outside centre who had the power to get over the advantage line if he couldn’t score or set up his winger.

So when you take all of that into account the question becomes, who are you going to play with de Villiers in the midfield rather than who you’re going to omit for him. Of course this presents yet another colossal problem since South Africa doesn’t possess one Test-quality outside centre. Not one.

While many will suggest that Juan de Jongh, Paul Jordaan, JJ Engelbrecht or Lionel Mapoe can do the business, I don’t see the appeal. All four of them are good players, but none of them can match Conrad Smith.

Meyer most likely also sees it this way so it will force him to play someone out of position at 13. God forbid he picks Jean de Villiers.

In 2012, to make room for the return of Francois Steyn, Meyer decided to play de Villiers at outside centre for most of that year. Sadly this did not work out. 2012 was a year to forget for the Springbok captain until Steyn got injured and Jaco Taute was drafted into the team. After that Juan de Jongh was given the number 13 for the end of year tour.

The following year, de Villiers played every single game at 12 and rediscovered his form, earning the South African player of the year award.

Then came 2014, where Meyer again put de Villiers indirectly at 13 despite wearing the number 12 jersey. During the game Serfontein usually came in 12 on defence and on 13 in attack and de Villiers once again suffered a huge drop in form.

The moral of the story here is not to play de Villiers at 13. But then again, Meyer shouldn’t choose any other 12 at 13. It just doesn’t work.

Damian de Allende played two games against Argentina at outside centre last year and didn’t perform well. Jan Serfontein spent some time there in 2013 and 2014 and also failed to inspire. JP Pietersen should be the very last person you look at when selecting a 13. I cannot even fathom why the Sharks continue to play him there, as he is a mediocre outside centre but a terrific winger.

The retirement of Fourie leaves a gaping hole in quality at outside centre and it is a very real problem heading into the World Cup. Right now the best option at 13 would be the in-form centre, de Allende, and it makes a good thing that they play for the same franchise.

But what perhaps makes de Villiers invaluable to the Springboks is his leadership. For years now the Springboks have been known as the thugs of rugby, a side that plays negatively and is one dimensional, but de Villiers and Meyer have transformed the side into something much more positive.

Dean Greyling’s cheap shot on All Black captain Richie McCaw is the only thuggish incident since Meyer and de Villiers’ tenure as coach and captain. They have helped the team to become much more disciplined and much more respectable. The Boks, who are constantly criticised as a boring team on attack, have the second-best try scoring rate in world rugby in the past four years. They are the only team to have scored four tries against the All Blacks in recent years, they are one of only two teams to have beaten the All Blacks in four years, and they have won two IRB try of the year awards in four years – all under the leadership of Jean de Villiers.

He is a respected and loved figure in world rugby, his reception from New Zealand for his 100th Test match in Wellington was a testament to his popularity, as is the way that most pundits speak of him. He won’t go down as one of the Springbok greats as his tenure as captain won’t be as long as John Smit’s, but his time as captain has been very successful.

He faces a tough road ahead, but South Africa need Jean de Villiers to lead them if they are to win a third Rugby World Cup title.