A few weeks after being interviewed on the subject of what comes after Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi for a magazine article, former Springbok and Scotland hooker John Allan got busy on WhatsApp: “Watched the Bulls game and Johan Grobbelaar was outstanding, did his job as a hooker extremely well. He would be my choice to back up Marx at this stage.”
It was the Monday after the Boks thrashed Argentina in their penultimate Castle Lager Rugby Championship test in Durban. The game that Allan was referring to was the Bulls against the Ospreys that was played at Loftus earlier that same Saturday afternoon.
While the Bok win and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu’s role in it was all the rage, Allan had been impressed enough by Grobbelaar’s performance to send a note confirming what he’d already said when the subject was discussed a few weeks earlier: Grobbelaar was too good a player to leave out of the Bok squad.
National coach Rassie Erasmus didn’t think so at the time but he obviously thinks so now for the 27-year-old Bulls No 2 is part of the Bok squad that will start their five match tour of the UK, Ireland, France, and Italy in London on Saturday.
Grobbelaar is the back-up to Marx on the bench and Erasmus clearly was in agreement with Allan that his Vodacom URC form was good enough for him to be part of his Bok plans.
VINDICATION FOR HARD WORK
For the product of Paarl Gimnasium, the selection will have been vindication for the hard work he has put in on the basics of hooker play which led to the form he showed in the early rounds of the URC. He scored a hat-trick of tries against the Ospreys, but that isn’t what Allan would have been focusing on, and neither would it have been Grobbelaar’s main focus either.
“There will always be a desire to play for the Springboks,” Grobbelaar said in a press conference not long after that Ospreys game. “Doing your basic work well is non-negotiable. A proper set piece and providing dominance are key when playing test rugby.”
They are indeed, and the hooker’s role in feeding the lineout and getting the best out of the formation is as key now as it ever was. Allan, in his day, which was the late 1980s into the 1990s (his last game was Natal’s clash with the British and Irish Lions on the 1997 tour), was an excellent lineout technician and in an era when such singular professionalism was unusual, he spent hours by himself throwing the ball against a rugby post from different positions. It seems Grobbelaar has a similar work ethic.
“Teams are doing exceptionally well in modern rugby to analyse their opposition,” he said. “At lineout time there is very little room for error, and it is important to keep changing your plans weekly to avoid showing too many patterns.”
JAN-HENDRIKS’ ABSENCE WILL HURT PLANS
Grobbelaar would have been pleased to find himself back in the Bok squad but the opportunity to propel himself into the conversation around one of the few positions there is a debate around at the Boks has become even sharper following the rather bizarre circumstances around Jan-Hendrik Wessels’ non-availability for the tour.
It is not an exaggeration to suggest that Wessels is a Malcolm Marx and an Ox Nche all rolled into one, or at least has the potential to emulate both those players, and while he also spends a lot of time at loosehead, he arguably propelled himself into the forefront among the hookers competing to become the next in line to the world rated Marx.
Although we shouldn’t forget that the Boks won the last World Cup without Marx, who went down injured at a training session in the Pool stages in France and had to return home, his value was underlined in indelible ink with the way he stood out in the sometimes nervy Bok performance in the Championship decider at Twickenham in early October.
At a time of much rotation in selection from Erasmus, the 31-year-old Marx has been an almost constant presence not only in every Bok match day squad, but also the starting team.
“Malcolm is the clear first choice at this stage, and I must say that Rassie is right to give his No 1 hooker as much game time as possible,” said Allan.
However, while Marx is young enough to be considered a certainty for the next World Cup in Australia in 2027, when he will be 33, there does need to be a succession plan, and a like for like replacement. That man might well have been Wessels, but he missed out on opportunities in the early part of the Bok international season and will now miss this important end of year tour.
It’s a pity, because with Wessels’ Bulls teammate Gerhard Steenekamp back in the mix after recovering from injury, he might have been freed to play more at hooker - and it does appear the Boks need to find a regular alternative for Marx like Bongi Mbonambi was at two World Cups.
FATHER TIME COUNTS AGAINST BONGI
Mbonambi has played a crucial role for the Boks, and started two successive World Cup finals (unfortunately he was injured early on in both), and he is still playing, but the odds on him being good enough and fresh enough in 2027 have lengthened considerably and he was not initially selected for the November tour.
“I think it is clear that Bongi is going to struggle going forward, it is just a reality of life,” says former Springbok coach Nick Mallett.
“By the time we get to the next World Cup he will be at the wrong end of 36, so we do have to look now for someone who can be the regular alternative to Marx like Bongi was.”
Now that Steenekamp is back, and let’s not forget that another Bok loosehead in Ntuthuko Mchunu will shortly make his return to the playing field after a lengthy injury absence for his new team, the Stormers, Mallett wouldn’t have minded seeing Wessels specialise at hooker on this tour.
“Jan-Hendriks is a good one, someone we can get really excited about. If you stick that guy in the middle of the scrum he is so powerful,” said Mallett.
“Like Marx he is also good at playing to the ball, he contributes in more than just his primary role. But scrumming is important. I think the big point of difference over most teams is our scrumming dominance, as we saw in the most recent game against the All Blacks. We must never lose that, and whoever plays hooker must also be able to scrum well. Which Jan-Hendrik does.
“We’ve also got to make sure we get back out ball in the lineouts, meaning lineout throwing is important too. If a player can also win turnovers, that’s a bonus. I must say (Marnus) Van der Merwe is bloody good in the tight-loose. He showed that with the Scarlets last year.”
DON’T FORGET MARNUS
Van der Merwe, who played well against some of his Bok teammates when the Scarlets faced the Sharks in Durban last weekend, was not selected for the tour, but he is highly rated by someone that Mallett used to coach - former Bok prop Robbi Kempson.
“It may not look that way, but that boy from the Scarlets is a definite find, and that kid from the Bulls (Wessels) is so exciting. With Bongi lacking form and hunger, those two youngsters are the ones earmarked to take us forward after Bongi and also after Marx,” said Kempson, who was talking in the wake of the Boks’ record 43-10 win over the All Blacks in Wellington.
“To bring them on against the All Blacks, playing in NZ for the Boks, shows how much faith Rassie has in them. Just the fact he brought Marnus back from Wales already says it. He must see something special in him. For Rassie to back a kid against the All Blacks and bring him on in a game where Malcolm was playing really well, that shows something.”
WESSELS IS PROPERLY VERSATILE
Of course Wessels made the biggest impact of the pair of them in that game, and it is important to note that he came on as a loosehead, and not a hooker. As a career-specialist at hooker, Allan is a bit nervous about Wessels moving too much between the two positions. He reminds us it has happened before in South African rugby, and when it did, with John Smit moving to tighthead for the British and Irish Lions series in 2009, it arguably didn’t work out that well.
“We must be careful of getting into the situation we had with John Smit and Bismarck du Plessis, where things were swapped around too much,” cautioned Allan.
“But I do think this situation is different. Jan-Hendrik plays front row as well as hooker. It gives Rassie an extra option, and Wessels is definitely in the mix to be our hooker going forward.”
Bulls scrum coach Werner Kruger, a former Springbok front-ranker himself, reckons that Wessels is versatile enough to become one of South Africa’s great players regardless of where he plays.
“Jan-Hendrik is a very good scrummaging hooker. Obviously he is helped in that regard by having had a fair bit of school and age group rugby behind him as a loosehead prop, so it is always going to be a bit of a different mentality and mindset for a hooker who comes in with a prop mentality when it comes to scrumming,” said Kruger.
“The mechanics are just a little bit different in terms of being in the middle of the scrum between the two props and there is a lot of emphasis on your shape. He is particularly good around getting the height right and setting the height for the front row. I must say he has come on in leaps and bounds in the two or three seasons that he has spent at hooker, particularly when it comes to scrum time.
“I would definitely say he has a big future ahead. At hooker and at looshead if he likes. He will be good wherever he settles. He has good physical size and good work rate around the park. He is a Bismarck du Plessis type player in terms of getting around the field. He is quick as well and I am looking forward to seeing him grow into a very special rugby player.”
THERE ARE GROWING OPTIONS
Apart from the names mentioned, there are other hookers joining the queue, and the remaining part of the URC season and in the EPCR games we could see other players do what Grobbelaar has done at the Bulls and Van der Merwe did at the Scarlets last year by adding their names to the pot.
“I also really rate Andre-Hugo Venter as one for the future,” said Allan.
“I just think he needs to establish himself as the first choice hooker at the Stormers first and nail down that spot and excel in that role. Joseph Dweba leaving the Stormers might help that cause. I think Venter should have been used as a first choice more often when he was there.”
Allan described Van der Merwe as “maybe more of a journeyman hooker than the other two, but he is a player who will never let you down.”
Allan shouldn’t mind Van der Merwe sitting out for Grobbelaar on this tour as he thinks it is important for Erasmus to establish a pool of hookers.
“We are going to need to have depth at hooker for the next World Cup. Bongi was fantastic in two World Cups. His scrummaging was outstanding, his throwing was good too. But the chances of him making it to the next World Cup aren’t good. I am not just talking from an age perspective. He might be getting tired from a mental perspective.”
NO DOUBTING INTERNATIONAL QUALITY
Grobbelaar’s form in the URC was timely if it means he gets a chance to add more Bok experience because Mallett has no doubt that he has international quality and felt at the time he was speaking that maybe Erasmus was just looking for more X-factor, which perhaps he provided in the early part of the season for the Bulls.
“Grobbelaar is hell of a dependable, and a good lineout thrower too. You won’t lose lineouts when he is throwing,” says Mallett.
“To me he is right up there among those with the potential to be a good international hooker, but maybe he just needs to show the bit of X-factor Rassie might be looking for. When it comes to Andre-Hugo Venter, there is a guy who has been clearly identified as a player with potential, but I think he still needs a big season in the URC to establish himself.”
