RUGBY NEWS - The offload - that thing of beauty defined as that moment when a player passes the ball to a teammate while being tackled - once was the domain of the New Zealanders in Super Rugby, but no more.
For years South African audiences sat in awe as local sides were accused of playing boring rugby and a 10-man strategy. For years the teams locally used their forwards and all the highlight reels wanted to show was audacious offloads by New Zealand players.
But in this year’s Vodacom United Rugby Championship the tables have turned. For once, this thing of beauty is truly South African.
For once, local sides have embraced the offload and are getting dividends from it.
It may be more than a mindshift, it was a complete revolution among local URC sides as they embraced the opportunity - especially on South African fields - to utilise the skills they have and to find the gaps.
And the results, particularly for the sides close to the top of the table, speak for themselves.
Just this weekend we saw offloads from Ruan Nortje, whose giraffe-like runs make a mockery of the “engine room” tag that often goes with the taller men in the team.
On Saturday a back-flip offload put Cyle Brink over for the Bulls and man, it was beautiful.Warrick Gelant’s offload for the Stormers this weekend deserved a highlights reel of its own.
Aphelele Fassi’s weekend special to put Jaden Hendrikse away was a 'wow' moment and they’re getting all the more regular as the competition goes on.
From the Tshituka brothers to Hacjivah Dayimani for the Stormers, from Burger Odendaal’s offload on Saturday against Connacht to so many others, South African players are doing their best to demolish the boring tag with which overseas teams have tried so hard to label them.
It is wonderful to watch, and brings about some of the best play in the URC to date, so much so that it could easily be argued that they can go head to head with some of the Super Rugby Kiwi teams and the outcome wouldn’t be such a one-sided argument.
The URC may be building as a competition, but who would have thought the Stormers and Bulls would be the top two sides in a 16-team competition in the offloads stat.
Think about that for a moment. The Bulls top the offloads stat in URC Rugby and the Stormers are just behind them.
Individually it’s the same. The top offloader in the URC is a forward.
Again, take a moment and smile. Marcell Coetzee - who by some strange coincidence is not in Springbok reckoning at the moment - tops the offload stats for the entire competition and he is in good company.
Madosh Tambwe, Damian Willemse and Odendaal all are in the top 10 of the competition stats. Lionel Mapoe, Wandisile Simelane and Seabelo Senatla join them in the top 20.
And while South African fans are enjoying this festival of offloads, it must be a scary prospect for overseas teams.
For years they have preached the gospel of a big pack and little else for the South African teams. Play them wide and run them off their feet - the big men will tire.
But what we’ve seen in the past six weeks is overseas teams slowing the game down, being injured at every stoppage and playing the delaying tactics to keep themselves from running out of steam.
So sit back and enjoy this montage.
It's offload heaven, and it's South African stars driving it.
