Centurion Willie le Roux — the unsung hero who drove Rassie’s Bok revolution

Rassie Erasmus told a story about Willie le Roux earlier this week that served as a powerful lesson to every South African rugby coach, fan and critic.

Back when Erasmus was the Stormers director of rugby in 2010, the Cape franchise hosted Boland at Newlands in a preseason fixture. On that occasion, an unknown 20-year-old Boland flyhalf – listed on the team sheet as Willem Jacobus le Roux – made an impression with the speed of his distribution and the quality of his decision-making.

Afterwards, the media asked head coach Allister Coetzee whether the Stormers intended to sign this diamond in the rough. As it turned out, neither Coetzee nor Erasmus was impressed by Le Roux’s performance, and he eventually left the Western Cape to further his career with the Cheetahs.

As Erasmus admitted this week – some 15 years after the fact – sometimes there’s more to a player than initially meets the eye. “I definitely made a mistake not backing him earlier in his career,” the Springbok coach said, after confirming that Le Roux will start against Italy in Gqeberha on Saturday, 12 July.

Le Roux will become South Africa’s eighth Test centurion, following in the footsteps of Percy Montgomery, John Smit, Victor Matfield, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Beast Mtawarira and Eben Etzebeth.

It’s hard to believe a coach of Erasmus’s calibre let Le Roux slip through the net and that the player was nearly lost to the Boks for good after a disastrous 2016 Test season.

Indeed, Erasmus sounded more than a bit relieved when admitting to the mistake this past week. To say that it all turned out for the best is an understatement.

“When people don’t know him well, they might misread his emotional involvement in the game,” Erasmus said. 

“At the start, when I didn’t know him well, I wondered about some of his reactions on the field. Then a coach overseas told me, ‘He just cares so much, he doesn’t hide his emotions.’

“That changed how I saw him. It’s not that he’s upset or disconnected, it’s that he feels everything deeply because he cares about the team.”

Flawed perceptions

South African rugby is rife with flawed perceptions and misunderstandings. Heyneke Meyer was perceived as a conservative coach during his tenure with the Bulls and Boks, but it was he who took a chance on the attack-minded Le Roux in 2013, with the aim of adding another layer to the South African game plan.

The impact of the selection was immediate, as Le Roux dazzled on debut in a 44-10 win over Italy in Durban. The Boks went on to record one of their most successful seasons in the professional era, and by the time the 2015 World Cup arrived, Le Roux had made the No 15 jersey his own.

A year later, South African rugby hit rock bottom, with the Boks winning just four of 12 Tests. Le Roux was among the players who received the axe, and didn’t feature at all across the 2017 Test season.

During that period in the international wilderness, Le Roux put all his energy into a club stint with Wasps, where he played alongside a kindred spirit in England flyhalf Danny Cipriani. Much like Le Roux, he was misunderstood and, as it turned out, completely devoted to his craft.

“Danny would point out small things, like planting your feet against a rush defence or straightening a running line by a few degrees to create more space,” Le Roux said after he won the 2019 World Cup. “He was always looking for small cues in the opposition defence. It was all very subtle, but I found myself looking at the game a different way. It was a great education for me, and when I eventually returned to South Africa, I passed on the message to my Bok teammates.”

Leaving the wilderness

When Erasmus replaced Coetzee as head coach in 2018, he recalled Le Roux to the team and empowered the fullback to lead the Bok backline. While Handré Pollard and Elton Jantjies shared the No 10 duties during the 2018 and 2019 seasons, Le Roux made the calls – moving his teammates around the field like a Grandmaster might move his pieces across a chessboard.

And yet, the criticism continued to come thick and fast, as so many were unaware of Le Roux’s role in Erasmus’s game plan.

At the 2019 World Cup in Japan, Erasmus held an informal media session in the penthouse of the team hotel in Omaezaki, in an attempt to provide the travelling journalists with some context regarding Le Roux’s continuing selection at No 15.

The Bok coach played footage that highlighted Le Roux’s value, and encouraged the journalists to look beyond Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi to the player who had put those try-scorers into space.

Back in South Africa, calls to axe Le Roux rose after the fullback made a series of errors in the quarterfinal against Japan. At the time, nobody outside the team knew Le Roux was carrying a shoulder injury and that it might affect his performance.

As the story goes, Le Roux went to Erasmus afterwards, apologised for letting the team down, and then volunteered to step aside. Erasmus was having none of it and ­proceeded to show him and the rest of the squad why the Springboks needed him to fulfil their mission in Japan.

The Boks came through the semifinal against Wales with a narrow win, and had a 20-point victory in the ensuing final.

Erasmus was vindicated for backing Le Roux and, from that point onwards, more fans and critics began gaining an appreciation for one of South Africa’s most important players of the professional era.

Makes others look good

Le Roux has since gone on to feature in a British & Irish Lions series victory (2021) and added second World Cup and Rugby Championship titles to his lengthy list of accolades.

When speaking to senior players such as Pollard and Jesse Kriel, they are quick to credit Le Roux’s communication skills and that he sees what others tend to miss, or simply don’t perceive. Many others who have worked with Le Roux over the years have offered similar endorsements.

“He sees things that others don’t always see, so he’s like an extra coach on the field,” said Jaco Peyper, who is working with the Boks as a laws and discipline adviser.

“Speaking from a coaching and management team perspective, we often feel sorry for the flak that Willie gets from the public and people outside the team, but the team itself rates Willie highly, due to what he sees and the decisions he makes.

“He makes the other players look good and is a very special player.”

Manie Libbok, who has been selected to start at flyhalf this weekend, echoed Peyper’s sentiments.

“Willie’s just a good example of what a Springbok should be,” Libbok said.

“He took me under his wing from my first training camp with the team in 2022. He’s always there to give me advice, whether it’s in training or in the heat of battle, and he doesn’t miss a thing.

“It’s a huge achievement to play 100 matches for your country, and we will be doing everything in our power to make it an extra special occasion for him on Saturday.”

A big win against Italy would certainly close the circle for a player who began his career against the Azzurri 12 years ago.

It may also convince the doubters of what the players and coaches already know to be true. Le Roux has been central to the team’s revival over the past eight years, and it’s time for every South African rugby stakeholder to give one of the all-time greats the respect he deserves. DM