There are many fundamentals needed for putting together a potentially great international rugby team - a dominant flyhalf, excellent pack, superior fetcher, an influential scrumhalf and a brilliant centre pairing.
There is no denying that in the professional era, teams with the best centre pairing of their generation tend to dominate.
Australia's Jason Little and Tim Horan, England's Mike Tindall and Will Greenwood, South Africa's Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie and New Zealand's Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith are some of the great modern pairings.The All Blacks have Sonny Bill Williams and Ryan Crotty setting the standard and during the recent British & Irish Lions series in New Zealand the visiting Owen Farrell and Jonathan Davies edged the midfield battle.
The resurgent Springboks are a way off claiming to have the best centre pairing in world rugby, but in Jan Serfontein and Jesse Kriel the raw materials are there. And it can't be pure coincidence that their burgeoning union has coincided with the Boks' recent positive results.
Last year the Boks went through five centre combinations in 12 tests, losing eight. So far in 2017 the Boks have won five from five tests with Serfontein and Kriel starting together in four of those victories."The midfield was an issue in 2016 because there were a lot of individuals staking a claim but no real combinations with any track record," former Bok captain and most-capped centre Jean de Villiers told the Sunday Times.
"Sometimes, if you're lucky, two guys will just click together from the start and the combination will work. But where possible with centres it's better to pick a combination rather than two individuals."
Serfontein, 24, has played 31 tests and has a remarkable record for a modern Bok player - he has only been on the losing side seven times. That's a 77% winning ratio since his debut in 2013, an era in which the Boks have won only 64% of their matches.
At the Bulls the pair have 12 starts over two seasons as a midfield combination, while at test level they have started only four times and there is clear evidence they have a good understanding.
Generally speaking the inside centre is a harder defender and better distributor of the two while the outside centre marshals the defence and has the pace to power through small holes. As individuals, Serfontein and Kriel are suited to their roles and as a pair they are bringing out the best in each other.
"Your midfield has to be astute and strong because they drive the defence and if they are good the rest of the defence tends to be good as well," De Villiers said...