Currie Cup final: Vital roles for Herbert and Le Roux, two pivots with contrasting styles
RUGBY: Jon Swift
IN THIS weekend’s final throw of the Currie Cup dice in an intriguing season where they have not always fallen in a predictable fashion, one of the oldest arguments in the game of rugby comes under the spotlight.
It is this: should a flyhalf provide a mobile link to the threequarters or use his boot as the baseplate for a kicking game aimed at keeping the forwards moving upfield?
It would be unfair to pigeonhole Transvaal’s Hennie le Roux as just a runner, or, for that matter, unjust to typify Free State’s Eric Herbert as simply a mindless kicker.
But even before the whistle starts what promises to be a final to be remembered at Springbok Park in Bloemfontein on Saturday, it is evident that much will depend on the two linkmen.
For Transvaal, the experiment of moving Le Roux, arguably one of the best broken field runners in world rugby, to centre and drafting Gavin Johnson in at No 10 did not work the way coach Ray Mordt expected.
It is fitting that Le Roux, a man who can change a game with one incisive break, has the confidence of the side and the coach.
He needs this backing to produce his best. And his best is devastating even if he cannot begin to match Herbert’s ability to launch the booming touch kicks that can break the back and spirit of any team.
Skipper Francois Pienaar and his pack have grown in stature over the last few games and even if they have managed to get out of jail through the last- gasp penalty try awarded to Johnson against Joel Stransky in the tight Western Province encounter and fought back to beat Eastern Province last weekend, they have looked a potent force up front.
Transvaal’s ability to keep driving to the final whistle is invaluable to a flyhalf like Le Roux. He needs both the momentum and the confidence to run only a powerful pack can fully instill.
This is true of Herbert, so much better a player over the run-in to the final than he looked as the uncertain pivot in the trial game before the first test against the English at Loftus Versfeld.
The move from Welkom, where he was a fixture in the Northern Free State side, to Bloemfontein, has clearly worked for Herbert.
He has revelled in Free State’s hard-running approach and his boot has, if anything, become even more devastating behind a pack of perpetual motion forwards. Herbert has, in short, proved to be a rounded and extremely valuable halfback.
It is unfair perhaps to focus the success of a side on one man. But in Herbert, Free State have gone back to the pattern of play — livewire forwards and adventurous backs — which they used the booming boot of De Wet Ras to orchestrate back in the late 1970s and early 1980s when the men from Bloemfontein were perpetual challengers for a place in the final.
It is of more than passing interest that Free State have not managed to regain those glory days in the decade or so which has followed. Evidence of this is the fact that captain Helgard Muller has played 162 games for Free State — and this will be his first Currie Cup final.
And it is also evidence of the resilience and determination of the Free State side of ’94 that Muller’s first final should have been earned the way it was. Down 27-10 against a resurgent Northern Transvaal at Loftus Versfeld last Saturday, Free State came roaring back to hand out a 33-30 defeat to the Blue Bulls and ensure home ground advantage in the final.
But such is the system of reaching a final that the results leading up to the big confrontation are often not really part of the reckoning come the day itself.
Free State have been the most exciting and consistent of the provincial sides in a season racked by injuries and disrupted at provincial level by the demands of international touring.
And it is encouraging for rugby in general to see the return of Naka Drotske at hooker.
The South African tourist to the Argentine has been slow returning to form from the shoulder injury in the opening minutes of Free State’s tour game against England, but on top form, Drotske has all the hallmarks of a truly world class player.
But that said, Transvaal have shown great character in fighting their way back into a position to defend their provincial championship after some disappointing early season results.
Transvaal have not always looked the force they undoubtedly are. There have been some lacklustre patches in play which have more often than not cost them dear.
But in Pienaar, they have a motivator who has time and again rallied his side and come back into the game.
Transvaal will need Pienaar’s leadership this weekend. With the limited seating available at the cricket ground which is the temporary home of Free State rugby while the main stadium is being refurbished for next year’s World Cup, Transvaal support has been limited to 1 200 of the 17 000 capacity at Springbok Park.
They can expect no real backing from an ever partisan Bloemfontein crowd. It could be the factor which motivates them to greater heights or the proverbial final straw in a tough season for the men from Ellis Park.
That said though, the Bloemfontein final matches two motivated and drilled sides. And regardless of the relative talents of the flyhalves who will surely dictate the play, promises to be a final to be remembered.