Jake's vast box of tricks

In his first Tri-Nations tour as Springbok coach, Jake White asked a bar full of rugby hacks who was the best fetcher in South Africa. After much head-scratching among the media, White gleefully answered: "It's [centre] De Wet Barry."

It was the kind of assertion which could quite easily have ended up with a story along the lines of "All players have a responsibility to fetch at the breakdown".

But during a period in which every country was trying to unearth its own Richie McCaw, White would graduate to the guy who said: "The only fetchers I know are my two sons when they fetch me beer from the fridge ."

Fast forward to today and everyone knows that teams shouldn't only rely on their openside flankers to do the hard yakka at the rucks, and the Sharks coach was one of the very first coaches to recognise that.

The meet and greet should have been the first time it became apparent that White's mind has never wandered inside a box, something he has proven time and again with his adaptability over the years.

This was shown by Tonderai Chavhanga, Frans Steyn and Ryan Kankowski's performances in the Sharks' Super 15 play-off against the Highlanders last Saturday.

In February, Chavhanga was jogging around King's Park with a wonky knee which many felt would be the last straw of an injury-prone career.

White had taken a chance on his former Bok winger, after he was rejected by the Cheetahs, having bumped into him in Durban.

Chavhanga took a while repaying him, but he did by setting up a try against the Stormers a fortnight ago and scoring one against the Highlanders last weekend.

Steyn left the Bok camp in the kind of huff which left many thinking he must be a nightmare to manage. Yet his performances for the Sharks, slightly out of position at flyhalf, have been mature and composed, as evidenced by his kicking display against the Highlanders.

Kankowski has always been a frustrating player, a gifted eighthman prone to taking turns lapsing into a comfort zone, not believing enough in his ability or shirking the physicality his position demands.

On Saturday he played like the wonderful hybrid of forward and backline player he has always been, and wasn't shy to roll up his sleeves when things went mano a mano. But his greatest contribution was running the lineout in the injured Stephan Lewies's place.

Those three examples of what a great coach does well: backing a player on gut feel, man-management, and encouraging a player to contribute more than he thinks he is capable of.

Looking back at White's career with the Boks and the Brumbies, it is littered with similar examples of lateral thinking.

He was the first Bok coach to take the plunge with an overseas-based player (Percy Montgomery). He was also the first international coach to have his team play without the ball, and now everybody's doing it.

His coaxing of Os du Randt and Clyde Rathbone from retirement was aimed at grounding his pampered changing rooms by impressing upon them what life was like coming from the brink of rugby oblivion.

Then there was the Eddie Jones touch to win the World Cup in 2007, a move he paid for from a war chest he had negotiated with Sasol in case the suits at Saru blocked appointing the Australian as his consultant (which they did).

To gain a sense of how adaptable White is, think how many other World Cup-winning coaches have successfully reinvented themselves as coaches.

So when the Sharks lose on Saturday (surely they can't ambush the Crusaders a second time at home?) and everyone thinks White should be fired, think of what he'll do for his next trick.