KEY POINTS:
Like most sports, rugby headlines come for the strike players, those able to scorch around like Springbok wing Bryan Habana.
The 24-year-old sits equal with Jonah Lomu and the eight tries he scored in a single World Cup, a record most suspect will be broken in today's final at Stade de France when the Springboks look to unhinge the defending champions England.
Habana has been special at this tournament but deep within the Springbok camp there is greater reverence for Jacobus Petrus du Randt, the soon-to-be full-time farmer but required for one last big push in the murky world of scrummaging.
The Springboks have loved their powerful running backs like Danie Gerber and John Gainsford and lauded the kicking genius of five-eighths like Naas Botha but props have a special place in their rugby folklore.
Just over 50 years ago, after a brutal tour of New Zealand, Chris Koch and Jaap Bekker were the nasties, the Springbok frontrowers who made the All Blacks struggle so hard in that historic test series.
These days the legend wears the No 1 green jersey as he did in the 1995 World Cup when he shared the victory podium with the Springbok squad as the Rainbow Nation went ballistic.
In between, Os (an Afrikaaner nickname for Ox) du Randt had three years out of the game with injury before being persuaded by coach Jake White to return to test rugby in 1994.
Four years on, he is still trucking - though to continue the analogy, White said this week that "the old diesel-engine was just about worn out."
A handful of England players are shooting for a second World Cup winner's medal today in what would be a remarkable coffin to glory rise in a month. But du Randt's trip from the amateur to professional rugby world is even more extraordinary.
The loosehead prop is 35, his farm near Bloemfontein in the Free State is beckoning and it is time to watch his two young sons play their rugby. But he has one final assignment where success will allow him to bookend his career with Webb Ellis Cup triumphs.
A serious knee injury meant du Randt called time on his rugby in 2000 but, after du Randt's encouraging return to the provincial scene in 2003, new coach White persuaded the prop to give test rugby another shot. He wanted an experienced prop, someone to rely on at set piece for the start of matches and he was prepared to manage du Randt's workload.
Some managing. Today is du Randt's 80th test and, while he is substituted often in the last period of tests, he has also been a regular starter for White.
Team-mates call him grand-dad and White refers to the "diesel engine" in a caring, descriptive manner as though he is just about to change his sparkplugs before putting him on blocks in the garage.
Somewhere in the not too distant future du Randt will need a knee reconstruction; he doesn't shuffle about the field much any more; but he can still scrum. While the Pumas peeled back the tighthead side of the Springbok scrum in the semifinal, du Randt held firm on the other side to allow the Boks to use their possession.
There is nothing like experience. Which is what du Randt reminds his team-mates about when they chip him about his age, lack of hair or shambling gait. He likes the mocking but he does let them know them when they have crossed the line.
The camaraderie built up in the squad has taken the side through some rough patches and they have exhibited considerable self-belief about the final. Were it not for his injury-enforced stand-down du Randt acknowledged he would be watching coverage of the final from his farm.
"People go on about the physical toll the game takes on players, and I will need a knee replacement in five years but it is the mental side you have to watch," du Randt said.
"If your mind is not free, you cannot blot out pain. I was delighted when Jake asked me to play again, but I told him that I had to be worth my place in the eyes of the other players."
White has spoken frequently about the importance of du Randt's return to the Springboks' renaissance, a factor he gauges to be the most important in that revival. Just as the All Blacks envied England's setpiece strengths at the 2003 World Cup, White wanted more from the Springboks.
Du Randt was the go-to man, a folk-hero, a rugged technician and someone to tutor younger loosehead props coming through the game.
"Playing in my second final, 12 years after the first is the perfect way to bow out," he said.
Considering he made his first Springbok tour to Wales in 1994, it is not surprising that du Randt is 'old-school' when it comes to rugby.
"I have always said that the only way to get yourself match fit is to play in matches, and the longer you are on the field so much the better for your fitness," he said.
"When I first started, everyone played the full 80 minutes, and it was seen as a matter of honour to see out the entire game. When it comes to your body, and how far you push it, it is quite easy to get into a routine.
"What trips you up is the mental aspect caused by being constantly away from home and away from your wife and kids. It is then that you just think rugby, rugby, rugby all the time, and it gets a bit much."
Du Randt has only felt the pain of World Cup defeat once, in 1999, when the Springboks were sunk in the semifinal by a late Stephen Larkham drop goal for the Wallabies. He was daring not think his career will end with similar sadness.
"I said right from the beginning that I wanted to play in three World Cups. But I thought my third would be the one in Australia in 2003. I missed out on that one, so it is great to play in France," he said.
