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Van der Westhuizen was the perfect scrum-half - Yachvili

Joost van der Westhuizen during the 1995 Rugby World Cup

Dimitri Yachvili has hailed Joost van der Westhuizen as the perfect scrum-half following the South African’s death at the age of 45.

Legendary Springbok Van der Westhuizen died on Monday, having been diagnosed with motor neurone disease several years earlier.

The passing of the 1995 Rugby World Cup winner – widely regarded as one of rugby union’s great number nines – prompted a host of tributes.

And former France scrum-half Yachvili told Omnisport: “He was perfect, because he had all the skills a scrum-half needs – the skill, the power, the mental strength, the aura around the team. 

“For all the players who played with him he was very positive and important.

“He is a legend for world rugby, for South African rugby, of course, but also for all the scrum-halves who had the chance to watch him play.

“He was as fast as a winger, he was powerful like a flanker and he had very good scrum-half skills, so he was a very modern scrum-half and we are so sad to see him go.”

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Nickers 34 minutes ago
Scott Robertson responds to criticism over All Blacks' handling errors

I thought we made a lot of progress against that type of defence by the WC last year. Lots of direct running and punching holes rather than using width. Against that type of defence I think you have to be looking to kick on first phase when you have front foot ball which we did relatively successfully. We are playing a lot of rugby behind the gain line at the moment. They are looking for those little interchanges for soft shoulders and fast ball or off loads but it regularly turns into them battering away with slow ball and going backwards, then putting in a very rushed kick under huge pressure.


JB brought that dimension when he first moved into 12 a couple of years ago but he's definitely not been at his best this year. I don't know if it is because he is being asked to play a narrow role, or carrying a niggle or two, but he does not look confident to me. He had that clean break on the weekend and stood there like he was a prop who found himself in open space and didn't know what to do with the ball. He is still a good first phase ball carrier though, they use him a lot off the line out to set up fast clean ball, but I don't think anyone is particularly clear on what they are supposed to do at that point. He was used really successfully as a second playmaker last year but I don't think he's been at that role once this year. He is a triple threat player but playing a very 1 dimensional role at the moment. He and Reiko have been absolutely rock solid on defence which is why I don't think there will be too much experimentation or changes there.

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