Willie le Roux’s master-class at flyhalf against the Lions would seemingly make him the obvious choice to call the shots for the Bulls going forward – but Jake White doesn’t see it that way necessarily.
Johan Goosen’s absence for up to three months due to a knee injury had the alarm bells ringing at Loftus Versfeld this week, but Boeta Chamberlain stepped up in solid fashion as the No 10 in the 35-22 United Rugby Championship victory at Ellis Park at the weekend.
Chamberlain has grown pleasingly as a flyhalf with the greater game-time he has been receiving this season, but Le Roux’s reading of the game and ability to find space out wide sets him apart.
The veteran Springbok fullback of course started his provincial career as a No 10 for Boland, and eventually morphed into first a wing and then fullback at Test level.
But the 35-year-old’s twilight years for franchise and country could see him playing an increasingly significant role as a flyhalf, considering the impact he made in the second half at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Le Roux took the Bulls to another level, pulling the strings with aplomb as he mixed it up with short and long passes to get some pace into their attacking shape.
That saw the visitors grab the four-try bonus point as they stretched the Lions defence across the pitch.
But does that mean Le Roux should wear the No 10 jersey in the Bulls’ next match against the Stormers in Cape Town on February 8?
“He’s played 10 for South Africa. He’s been on leave, and I didn’t think that it was fair for him to come straight in and just start in the team,” Bulls boss Jake White said.
“It wouldn’t have been fair on the other players either, who got a good result last week.
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“But we’ve got two weeks now to prepare (for the Stormers clash), and what’s nice about those two weeks is that it gives us time to reassess the injuries, look at what worked and what didn’t work.
“One of the things that did work for us today was our bench. So, tempted in terms of starting him (Le Roux), and maybe the way we finished is the way we can win big games as well.
“I will reflect, and we have two weeks (to prepare). Maybe take this week and see who we can put in what position, and see how the team gel – or how cohesive they can be, now that we’ve got two weeks to prepare.”
White praised his team’s character after losing co-captains Ruan Nortjé and Elrigh Louw at the start of each half to serious knee injuries, with Louw going to hospital and Nortjé now awaiting the results of a scan.
Emirates Airline Park wishes Elrigh Louw a speedy recovery after a nasty injury 👇👇
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) January 25, 2025
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They are in doubt to feature in the Stormers game, but the Bulls will take confidence out of how they managed to turn an 11-10 halftime deficit into a 35-22 bonus-point triumph.
“We probably just held onto the ball a little bit more, and the bench had four Springboks, which is a massive bonus compared to what the Lions had on the bench,” White said about the second-half display.
“They looked at times like they were getting tired, and then we ended up being able to put pressure on them – because the bench made such a massive impact as a collective.
“It wasn’t as if only Akker (van der Merwe) or Willie played well. When they came on... that could quite easily look like a starting XV that was on the field at the end. Nizaam Carr came on and played well as well.
“We said at halftime that we had done enough and that we mustn’t panic, and that we were going to use our bench to ensure we finish up much stronger than them.
Some Moodie Magic 💥💥
Mannie Rass stood no chance in this contest 😤
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“And they looked fatigued at halftime as well. It was a very high-tempo game, and I would imagine that that was one of the longest ball-in-play games that we’ve had in a long time.
“It’s good for our players to actually vasbyt (fighting spirit) there, and for our conditioning staff to see that we can play at a certain tempo at altitude – and play for 80 minutes.”