23 October 2019, by: SIBUSISO MJIKELISO

Lukhanyo Am – The dazzling demolisher

SPRINGBOK second centre Lukhanyo Am has emerged as the “Demolition Man” in Rassie Erasmus’s squad at this year’s Rugby World Cup.

A skilful, creative mover of the ball, Am had to access the dark side of his game to come through as one of the players Erasmus could not do without as he aims to deliver South Africa’s third Webb Ellis trophy.

Am is used to tough, though. When a large chunk of his current teammates – Handre Pollard, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Beast Mtawarira and the like – were in the UK for the last edition of the showpiece, Am was putting back together pieces of a rugby career that seemed to hit rickety skids.

In 2015 he was part of a Border Bulldogs team, coached by Elliot Fana, that had a handful of rough diamonds such as his fellow three-quarter Makazole Mapimpi and Southern Kings maverick fullback/flyhalf Masixole Banda. 

He had returned from a year spell at the Falcons, where game time was as scarce as a potjiekos in Tokyo. 

In the words of former Bulldogs second-rower Lungelo Payi: “Brakpan is a tough place to get thrown into.”

There’s an old photo of Am in red Falcons gear, looking forlorn, lost, like a child whose mother abandoned at the beach in the summertime and was looking for a way home or a way out.  

When he found his way back to Border, the former De Vos Malan High School pupil came out of his shell and displayed the kind of skills that made him the most talked about centre to come out of King Williams Town since Springbok Gcobani Bobo. 

 Unlike Bobo – who hails from the same Zwelitsha township as Am – Am (25) couldn’t floor his opposite number but he had the magical vision, especially as a No 12, that made Bobo the superstar he was in the early to late 2000s. 

It took him just two years to get into national team reckoning. First, he made Southern Kings team before going to the Sharks on loan in 2016. What the Sharks saw impressed them, even though they had a young Andre Esterhuizen competing for the same inside centre position coming through their ranks.

Am showed his versatility by switching to No 13 in 2017 – a hallowed position in the green and gold; a position he has now made exclusively his own.

The lost, despondent Am that was seen in Brakpan was banished for a confident, debonair distributor, with a streak for target-marking opposing ball-carriers.

Lukhanyo Am is so pivotal with these overlaps play.

IF we get to play NZ again this tournament, he basically becomes our most important player in the setup.

Long way to go though.

— Runningflyhalf (@Runningflyhalf) October 20, 2019

Although his brilliant touches were on display weekly at Kings Park, it’s his defensive game that put him in Springbok reckoning.

“Working hard definitely helped to put me in a great position, no matter what I wanted to achieve in life,” he said on the eve of the World Cup in Japan.

“Being a Springbok was one of my most important goals and being at the World Cup is the biggest stage I could ever play at in international rugby.

“From when I started, I wanted to go through the levels, starting with franchise rugby. And when I got that opportunity, I then wanted to grow as a player and as a person. I knew then that I could aim for a place in the Springboks.

“Once I got to the Sharks I was very encouraged by the fact that I got to the Sharks and saw that the level of my game was not far off and sometimes on par with the players I found there.

“I’m the kind of player who has a lot of confidence in themselves and my game. I knew I could fight for myself at that level. And the higher the competitive level and tougher the opponents I faced, the more my game grew until we got to this stage.”

It took a coach like Erasmus to unleash the beastly side of him. Although he was slightly error-prone on offence against Japan, his defence halted the quickest ball-distributing team in the tournament.

Japan’s plan of action was simple: get the ball to wings in a trice and force teams to scramble to catch their “Ferraris” Kenki Fukuoka and Kotaro Matshushima. Am put a wheel clamp on those plans by targeting his opposite number Timothy Lafaele or whoever else had the gall to distribute the ball.

Aided and abetted by pesky scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, Am pulled the handbrake of the Japanese attack in Tokyo last time out and it shut Jamie Joseph’s wily foxes up and silenced the crowd.

Now that he is a long way away from the bane of Brakpan, more of the same will be warranted against Wales on Sunday in the semifinals. Whether it’s Owen Watkin that partners Hadleigh Parkesin midfield for Warren Gatland’s men or Jonathan Davies, Am will make sure that he is the boom gate that stands between the ball and speedsters Josh Adams or George North.

He can draw strength from how far he has come from Brakpan to Yokohama. He is now the fulcrum and demolisher-in-chief that the Boks will rely on to book a place in the World Cup final.

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