Frans has his focus on the scrums rather than on scoring tries

Ashfak Mohamed

It will be almost five years to the day that he earned his 100th cap that Frans Malherbe will feature in his 150th Stormers match against the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday (2.30pm kick-off).

On February 8, 2020, Malherbe brought up his century in a Super Rugby clash against the Bulls at Newlands, which the Capetonians won 13-0. The barrel-chested tighthead prop from Bredasdorp – who also boasts 76 Springbok Test caps and is a double World Cup winner – will hope for another victory in a milestone game at Ellis Park on Saturday.

“I joined the senior team at the end of 2010. It’s difficult to sum up these 15 years, but I am very privileged for all the chances I got to stay here, keep on playing and recover from injuries,” Malherbe said on Tuesday.

“Those are all the things that perhaps throw other guys off that journey, so I am very thankful for that. I am one of those fortunate guys who can play for his childhood team that he supported.”

Not known for doing the flashy stuff, Malherbe almost celebrated his 150 a bit early in last week’s 33-32 loss to the Bulls at Cape Town Stadium.

While it was a difficult afternoon for the Stormers front row as a whole in the scrums, Malherbe got stuck in during general play – and the highlight was seeing him dive over for only his second try in the United Rugby Championship, from a Ruben van Heerden offload.

Or maybe his delicious scoring pass in midfield to Warrick Gelant usurped his touchdown?

“I often joke with Ruben in practices that he mustn’t practice his offloads, and on Saturday, I actually screamed for the ball and he threw it!” Malherbe recalled on Tuesday.

“Then I thought about it: my previous try was exactly the same type of movement, from him, against Munster.

“So, I will leave him to throw his offloads if he wants to. I didn’t get a fright when the ball came my way, and I was calling for it.”

And what about those lovely hands to put Gelant away?

“Sometimes us props find ourselves there in the middle, and I think it’s just important to keep a cool head, and not try something funny – because you will definitely get chased down.

“Luckily I got the pass away to Warrick.”

But enough of the fun stuff. Malherbe knows that the Stormers scrum didn’t function optimally against the Bulls, and now they will face another searching test in the set-piece against the Lions at Ellis Park.

Like Wilco Louw last week, there is another Bok contender pushing for Malherbe’s No.3 jersey in the shape of the powerful Lions tighthead in Asenathi Ntlabakanye.

The 33-year-old front-rower was honest about the scrumming issues against the Bulls, but is confident that it can be fixed for the Ellis Park showdown.

“The first thing is that we must be better. The Lions, over the years, have had a respected scrum. They are always strong, always solid, and always scrum as a unit,” Malherbe said.

“But we should take responsibility to be better, and then carry it out on Saturday. It’s a player’s responsibility to present a picture and show dominance, which makes it easy for the referee.

“That responsibility I take 100 percent on myself. Looseheads, overall, if you get scrummed, you must take it on the chin, and you go forward and try to make things right, and be better.

“I think it’s as simple as that. If you are scrummed, you must take it on the chin and move on.

“That’s (using the Stormers’ scrum as a weapon) very important – for me, it’s the chief goal. We saw what impact it had on the game on Saturday (against the Bulls).

“We are working hard to get it right, and get it to where it was.”