How will the No 10s weather the pressure and spark Super success?
WE can’t get away from it ... Saturday’s Super Rugby semi-final between the Lions and Hurricanes at Ellis Park pits arguably the competition’s best No 10s against each other for the first time this year. So, how do Elton Jantjies and Beauden Barrett match up ahead of the big game? Rugby writer
Jacques van der Westhuyzen gives his view of the two No 10s.
ELTON JANTJIES
The Lions man has been outstanding in 2017, plain and simple! Forget the fact he had a bad day at the office last Saturday – those one-off aberrations happen to everyone every now and again and those suggesting he is in a “slump” have obviously not watched him week in and week out producing the goods for his team.
Jantjies has shone at home and away and has played with a maturity he seemed to be lacking last season. And it’s not only for the Lions that he has stood tall and directed those around him; he has done it at Test level as well – something he didn’t do a year ago. This weekend’s match though is without question Jantjies’ biggest test of the year – as he comes up against a New Zealand team for the first time and goes head to head with arguably the slickest No 10 in the game in Beauden Barrett.
Jantjies’ challenge is to show he can deliver the big performance under pressure, with the opposition in his face and cutting off his options at the back, but there’s no reason why he won’t prosper. After all, he was one of the chief destroyers of the Crusaders and Highlanders in the playoffs last year, so why not now in 2017, too?
The Lions man has got every trick in the book and he’ll probably be required to use all of them, and that includes kicking his goals. Jantjies is a class act, and what an opportunity awaits for him to silence every critic out there.
BEAUDEN BARRETT
The world’s leading flyhalf? Quite possibly. Barrett has been at the top of his game for some time now and it’s no surprise some have ranked him ahead of the great Dan Carter as the best New Zealand have produced.
The Canes flyhalf produced a masterful performance in the wet and cold of Wellington in the final last year (against the Lions), but he’ll be even more dangerous in the dry and warm highveld sun this weekend. There’s just no truth in the story that the Kiwis don’t like the thin air up north... they’ve always prospered on the highveld.
Barrett is his team’s key man. Everything goes through him and it’s his distribution skills, his short passes, kick-passes to the wings and sniping breaks that make him dangerous. Trying to neutralise him isn’t easy because he brings so much to a game of rugby, but if the Lions are to have a chance of getting past the Canes they’re going to have to get under Barrett’s skin and put plenty of pressure on him. He’s shown he’s prone to making a few mistakes when things don’t go his way.
Barrett doesn’t kick at goal anymore (his brother Jordie does that now) which means he has no additional pressure and can focus solely on directing his team at 10. This will be just as big a test for Barrett as for Jantjies.