‘A young Willie le Roux’ – Springboks legends hail new ‘golden generation’ of South African players
SA'A Star Luan Gilomee and an inset of Springboks legend Schalk Burger.
Jean de Villiers believes that another ‘golden generation’ of players is coming through the SA Rugby structures.
Many of the back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning Springboks are in the twilight stage of their careers, with Rassie Erasmus already starting to filter several of the older players out of the senior squad.
Faf de Klerk, Vincent Koch, Willie le Roux and Bongi Mbonambi are just four of the double World Cup winners who have not been included for the opening match of the Nations Championship against England.
Meanwhile, Erasmus has included three U20s stars who will miss the World Rugby Junior Championship and could make their official Springboks debuts instead, one of which is captain Riley Norton, who impressed against the Baa-Baas last weekend. He will be joined by Vusi Moyo, who also shone off the bench, whilst winger Jaco Williams starred for South Africa A against Zimbabwe which was enough to earn his place.
Luan Gilomee, the next Willie Le Roux?
De Villiers joined fellow former Springboks Schalk Burger and Hanyani Shimange on the Verdict podcast to review the two matches at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium.
The former captain and centre asked Burger and ‘Shimmy’ who stood out for them in SA’A’s 40-0 victory over the Sables, and the latter immediately picked out starting full-back Luan Gilomee. The Junior Bok has quickly risen to prominence after a strong debut for the Sharks and is set to join the Bulls ahead of next season.
While he started in the number 15 jersey, he shifted to the fly-half role following the red card to Yaqeen Ahmed.
“I thought Luan Gilomee was good, a nice player; he has a good feel for the game, is brave in the air, and is explosive,” former hooker Shimange said.
Burger interrupted to liken the youngster to full-back Le Roux, who was a mainstay in the Boks team from 2018 to midway through 2025, racking up over 100 appearances in Green and Gold.
“He is brave in his decision-making too,” the former World Rugby Player of the Year said. “It’s almost like a young Willie le Roux, where he steps up as the second playmaker and wants to put players in space.”
Shimmy continued: “Haashim Pead had a nice game as well; he has got time on the ball as an attacking nine around the rucks. His ability to just slow it down there and look for options, he has got a good dummy, then he goes. Those were the two youngsters who stood out.”
Zekhethelo Siyaya and Yaqeen Ahmed
Another Sharks rookie caught the eye of the two former forwards, Zekhethelo Siyaya. He also shone for the Durbanites at the tail end of the season playing at full-back and fly-half but featured on the wing for SA’A.
He crossed the whitewash four times against Zimbabwe, but only one of his tries actually stood, with the TMO ruling out the other scores before he copped a stray boot to the face that ended his game and denied him a place in the Junior Boks squad for the World Rugby U20 Championship.
“Siyaya got kicked in the face, but wow, he can take you on the outside; you think there is just this much space, but he puts the hammer down, and he is gone,” Shimange said.
“I was fortunate enough to be there, and it’s so effortless,” De Villiers replied.
“I was like ‘Go, go man, give it some effort,’ but he is still going, and he is gone. There are a couple of special talents coming through.
“And Ahmed, the way he controls the game [wow], his red card was a brainfart…”
Springboks legend: Tony Brown proved his ‘loyalty’ with classy gesture for rookie fly-half
Ahmed’s ‘brainfart’ is another setback for the Junior Boks as the fly-half will miss the opening two matches of South Africa’s title defence in Georgia with Moyo on Springboks duty. Burger believes that the pivot’s error was born out of frustration in himself after he chipped the ball over the top inside Zimbabwe’s 22.
“You mention the backs because that’s where all the youngsters were,” Burger said. “Jaco Williams, he chases everything; if it’s in the air, it doesn’t matter about the kick execution, he is going after it. I like Williams and Ahmed, the way they played.
“On Ahmed, he got frustrated because the seven held him back, but I think he was more frustrated by his decision-making with going for the chip kick – it was a red card all day.
“Up front, in the beginning, Bathobele Hlekani handled a few guys.”
Siba Mahashe impresses Schalk Burger
De Villiers has previously sung the praises of Lions flanker Siba Mahashe and was eager to see how he would fare for the SA’A team. However, the back-rower ‘didn’t get much of an opportunity’ as he was a late replacement in the match.
However, he still managed to impress Burger. “I like his intensity, always on the ball; he is a nice little player,” he said.
De Villiers also hailed the amount of talented players coming through the SA Rugby structures.
“Just the pipeline of players in South Africa currently,” he said. “We have injuries in a couple of positions where we are thin-ish, but the amount of players coming through, it really is a golden generation.”
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
Siya Kolisi’s take on the u20s
Speaking to the media on Tuesday, Springboks captain Siya Kolisi also praised the quality of the young players in South Africa after training with many of the U20s.
“When we were training with the U20s group that joined us, the intensity was really high because they’re fearless and they don’t know what the limit is,” he said.
“So, it was really good for us as a team. It’s really been exciting, and leadership is not only on me; there are many guys in the group that take control too. It’s really been going really well, and it’s been amazing to see the standard that the U20s are working at. Coach Kevin Foote is doing a really great job with them, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’re going to do at the World Cup.”
