Jake White likes giants in the pack.
There won't be no 2 little fetchers running around at 6 & 7
Based on a South African culture and at the time he had a horde of big blokes to choose from. With the cattle at his disposal Jake played a direct game plan that suited, and called for big back rowers (It is still in essence the game plan that first seen at the Sharks in the nineties when they dominated the Currie Cup. Direct rugby. Big ball runners. Suck in defenders. Attrition.). It's also worth noting that from the outset JAke put a squad and plan together that he felt was best suited to winning a World Cup four years down the line. What better place to start than the blokes who did the job in the under 21's and this is where the big back rowers were from.
Look at the names of the back rowers in his U/21 squad - big people. Pedrie Wannenburg, Juan Smith, Jacques Cronje. I had the pleasure of attending a breakfast event prior to the World Cup U/21 finals and these guys were already massive then (If memory serves Danie Rossouw was also in the squad). Jake built a large part of his game plan around those blokes so when he coached the national team it was a progression from there. The following year, Jake employed Schalk Burger as a pure openside in his youth squad because he had a guy who could really pilfer (a skill which Burger has to some extent lost). When Burger got injured in 2005/2006 (not 100% sure when), he tried a number of new openside options. Joe van Niekerk (failed miserably), Solly Tybilika (the infamous selection debacle).
None of them worked so Jake made up his mind that he has no pure openside and he will adapt the plan if Burger can't play. Through 2006/2007 that never really worked when Schalk was injured, and even though Jake made light of the idea of an openside, he
still took van Heerden to the World Cup as backup openside and was forced to play him when Schalk was suspended after a farcical card against Tonga I think it was. Van Heerden produced a blinder and ripped the English a shiny new one at the breakdown. He played 100% like a classic 7 and stole them blind while BAkkies and Juan Smit opened a path for him. It was a beautiful thing to behold and I would reckon it was among the most physical games I ever saw a Bok team play. I digress :0
Youth teams like Jake's U/21 World Cup winners spun the thing wide (Captained by Clyde Rathbone who if I remember correctly was top try scorer in the tournament). He played a game plan that brought strike runners like Rathbone and at the time a blisteringly quick Ashwin Willemse into play.
He will enforce a plan that he thinks can win the Super XX and retrofit to the cattle available. You can bet he wants a big 6 and 8 but I think he will play a classic openside. Kimlin developing nicely into the type of player I reckon Jake will like.
Oh and I think Jake would have liked what he saw Rocky doing at 8 in Ireland. I still don't understand why he wasn't moved there when Palu went down last year. But I digress again.
One thing we can bet on though: Jake White wants a pack that can dominate, regardless of who hangs off the back of the scrum.
