NATIONAL NEWS - Just as two real wrestlers would when they are away from the ring and the hype, the two protagonists in last Saturday’s unadvertised little “Tussle of the Behemoths” at Newlands, thus providing the highlight of what was otherwise a fairly forgettable afternoon, have shelved their aggression and are behaving like they are friends.

So says Springbok assistant coach Johan van Graan, who told the assembled media at Stellenbosch on Tuesday, when discussing the two outsize locks Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager, that “They are the best of friends”.

And why shouldn’t they be? The law makers and some referees and TMO seem to keep forgetting this, but rugby is a contact sport. That means blow-ups do happen. And every male who has played rugby in South Africa will at some stage have experienced that moment when your competitiveness with a good mate gets the better of you when you end up opposing them in a practice session or school or university house match.

Afterwards it is forgotten, and it is anticipated that you will have a drink or a coke together and laugh about it.

But let’s detain ourselves for just a moment on the subject of that wrestling match, which seemed to go on and on and on, and eventually ended with Etzebeth, who has plenty of wrestling pedigree in the family genes, throwing De Jager to the ground in what looked like a move worthy of having him selected to go to Rio with the South African Olympic team in a couple of weeks.

For it may have been a positive sign in the sense that it was an indication of how intense the battle is among a group of second row forwards that would all walk into just about any other international team. Competitiveness for a limited number of places is always a good thing, and right now if there is one area where South Africa has an abundance of talent, it is at lock.

Indeed, the injury to Pieter-Steph du Toit, unfortunate though it is, could work for the Boks if the two giants slot into the second row as seamlessly and as aggressively as they did at the start of their partnership during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship last year.

No other team has two more formidable and scary players bound together in the second row, and if there is competitiveness between them, then so much the better for a Bok team that can thrive on the go-forward that the pair can offer the team.