Fourie du Preez may be nowhere near his best, but even when playing at less than a third of his capacity he is still better than any other scrumhalf.

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Many critics scoffed at Bulls captain Victor Matfield when he suggested at the weekend that his team’s halfback pairing – Morné Steyn and Fourie du Preez – is the best kicking combination in the world.

His views on the qualities of at least one of those two, scrumhalf Du Preez, is shared by Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.

The Bok mentor felt that the World Cup-winning scrumhalf was playing at less than 30 percent of his capabilities, but still ranked him as the best.

“Fourie du Preez, at the moment, is by far the best scrumhalf in the world,” De Villiers said.

“However, he is only playing at 27 percent of his ability,” the Bok coach said, adding: “I base that [statement] on the facts [statistics] that I have at my disposal, through the analysis that we do on all the players.”

While the Bok coach feels there are some players who need to “step up a bit”, he said it is frightening to think how influential the 29-year-old Bok and Bulls No.9 can be.

“If Fourie du Preez is playing only at 27 percent of his ability and his performances are already as good as they are – he is controlling the game brilliantly for the Bulls – just imagine how good he can be when he is back at his best.”

De Villiers hinted that Du Preez’s place in the Bok team, to play at the World Cup in New Zealand in September and October, may already be booked.

“If another scrumhalf does perform well now, it doesn’t automatically mean Fourie du Preez won’t go [to the World Cup],” he said about the player he feels is performing well below his best.

“It is my duty – at the end of the [Super Rugby] competition – to get him to [play at] the best of his ability,” De Villiers added.

A glance at the statistics seem to back up what De Villiers, and Du Preez’s teammate, Matfield, have said about the No.9.

In the opening few rounds of Super Rugby, after eight months on the sidelines following shoulder surgery, he was not nearly as influential as you have come to expect of the 55-Test veteran.

Upon futher investigation, the most telling statistics – based on stats found on ruggastats.co.za – are in Du Preez’s gain-line and kicking game performances.

In the opening two weeks, against the Lions and Cheetahs, Du Preez managed to reach the gain-line with ‘just’ 67 percent of his ball carries. At the same time, his handling count during those two matches stood at just over 50.

However, in the last three weeks he consistently made the gain-line, to record a 100 percent stat in this department. He also managed 10 tackles a game, missing just three in the last three games, as well as gaining almost 200 metres per game via his kicking game. (All this while he handled the ball up to 30 times more per game than in the Bulls’ first two matches.)

Those are not bad statistics for a player performing at just 30 percent of his capacity.