“You’ll just see at a training session, the guy’s all of a sudden in a different position, and you wonder where those chats are coming from.” Ruan Ackermann, talking about Rassie Erasmus on For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa.
Ruan Ackermann says Rassie Erasmus doesn’t need to set foot at Stormers training to change it. The Springboks coach asks franchise coaches to try players somewhere new, and the squad finds out when a teammate turns up in a different spot.
Ackermann even named one: Paul de Villiers, who captained the Stormers for the first time against Bristol on Saturday.
“They love the, what’s the word, hybrid now if you can use it,” said Ackermann, the Stormers back-rower.
“So, I think there’s always chat. Listen, can you guys try maybe turn this guy into this or how’s this guy when he trains at this position?”
He was speaking to Ben Youngs and Dan Cole in the episode published on Thursday 15 October.
He wouldn’t say which position de Villiers is trying. Should the Springboks coach get a say in it at all? Have your say in the comments.
Ackermann hears Paul de Villiers is trying new positions
In the same answer, Ackermann brought up Paul de Villiers.
“Even like a Paul de Villiers now at the moment, who’s, who’s doing different positions. I don’t want to say anything now, but I hear there’s a bit of different positions that he’s trying.”
He didn’t say which position.
Against Bristol on Saturday 17 October, de Villiers was still at 6, wearing the armband after Ruhan Nel withdrew with a calf injury. The Stormers won the Champions Cup opener 49-12.
From 12 to the back row: the Esterhuizen template
Ackermann said the Springboks’ alignment camps, held during the club season, matter to Erasmus “because he gets time to spend then with the players… instead of coming into… the Stormers environment and kind of making it a little bit like overstressful”.
The best-known case is André Esterhuizen, a centre who now covers the back row. In September, Rassie Erasmus made him Springboks captain for the Test in Perth.
Erasmus introduced him as a hybrid on Saturday 28 June last year, after the 54-7 win over the Barbarians in Cape Town. Esterhuizen had come on early in the second half as a loose forward.
“You can call him a hybrid player, he is a backline player who can also play in the forwards now,” he said, as reported by EWN.
Ackermann’s example was a player who “goes from playing 12 to back row”, which is the Esterhuizen move.
Ackermann calls Riley Norton a hybrid
Asked later for a Stormers player to watch, Ackermann went straight to Riley Norton.
“Riley Norton. He’s one of those guys that… has got a lot of potential… they’ve won… the 20s now with him being captain… he sees the game quite well. Really good leader… he’s a hybrid if I can say like that. He can play lock and back row as well.”
Norton captained the Junior Springboks to last year’s under-20 world title, beating New Zealand 23-15 in the final. He was named in the Springboks squad in June. Against Bristol he was on the bench at 20.
A lock who can play back row lets a coach carry one forward fewer on the bench.
If the 6 is spent on 60 minutes, a 20 who can carry and jump at 6 means nobody else has to change jobs.
Nizaam Carr: the standard comes from the top
Nizaam Carr, the Bulls back-rower with five Springboks caps, was on the same episode, and he said young forwards now train to the Springboks’ standard.
“So when they’re scrumming, the mindset is now, Rassie wants this or Coach Johan Ackermann wants this. So that’s the standard for me. So I can’t drop any lower than that,” he said.
Johan Ackermann is the Bulls head coach, and Ruan’s father.
Carr said the same goes for the breakdown and defence:
“That’s… across all the boards… the breakdown speed or… defence spacing, alignment, all these stuff there’s such a standard now that… if you drop that standard you’re not going to play and it’s as simple as that.”
The franchise coach should tell the squad why
A player asked to learn a new position is betting his place on it. Tell the squad why before the bibs come out on Monday.
The system works for the Springboks. A centre who can scrum and a lock who can play 6 let Rassie Erasmus cover forwards and backs from one bench.
But the franchises do the retraining, and the rest of the squad only learns by watching.
Your turn: national plan or franchise call?
Watch the next Stormers team sheet. If de Villiers is anywhere but 6, you’ll know where those chats were coming from.
Should the Springboks coach get a say in franchise positions? Yes or no below.
Frequently asked: Rassie Erasmus and hybrids
What did Ruan Ackermann say about Rassie Erasmus?
Stormers back-rower Ruan Ackermann said Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus asks franchise coaches to try players in new positions to create hybrids. He said it on For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa, published on Thursday 15 October.
Ackermann named Paul de Villiers as trying different positions, and called Riley Norton a hybrid who can play lock and back row.
What is a hybrid player in rugby?
A player picked to cover positions in both the forwards and the backs. Rassie Erasmus introduced André Esterhuizen as one in June last year, a centre who can also play in the back row.
Is Paul de Villiers changing position?
Ruan Ackermann said he had heard de Villiers was trying a different position, without saying which. De Villiers started at 6 and captained the Stormers against Bristol on Saturday 17 October.
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