South Africa play Argentina in the second of the two semifinal matches in the 2007 Rugby World Cup tomorrow. In the build-up to the match, Huw Richards in the Financial Times wonders whether Fourie du Preez, the South African player, is the world’s best scrum-half and even better than Joost van der Westhuizen, the scrum-half the last time South Africa won the World Cup in 1995.
For non-rugby enthusiasts, some background:
Scrum-half is, perhaps, the most demanding and specialised position in rugby. He is the link between backs and forwards, making more than half of a team’s passes during a match. He needs speed of hand and brain, all-round skills, tactical sense and exceptional physical courage. Traditionally the smallest man on the pitch, at 6ft and 190lb, du Preez is the largest of the four semi-final scrum-halves but shorter and lighter than all but one of his team-mates – he has to deal at close quarters with much larger men whose purpose is to stop him playing.
Seems to be the consensus. He is keeping out Geysie Pienaar’s son Ruan who is amongst the most creative players South Africa has produced in the last decade.