Fourie du Preez: the world’s best scrumhalf?

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.