Springboks: Nick Mallett explains why Rassie Erasmus selects ‘workhorse’ with ‘Bakkies Botha-esque type’ qualities
Springboks second-row Salmaan Moerat in action against Italy and ex-Boks coach Nick Mallett (inset).
Nick Mallett has come to the defence of Springboks second-row Salmaan Moerat after he received plenty of criticism following his display in a recent Test against Italy.
Moerat captained the world champions to a 45-0 victory in Gqeberha but his individual performance was heavily criticised by Springboks supporters on social media after that clash.
The 27-year-old, who skippers the Stormers at club level, has made 11 appearances for South Africa after making his Test debut off the replacements bench against Wales in Pretoria in 2022.
Mallett, who was South Africa’s head coach from 1997 to 2000, believes the criticism of Moerat is unfair and explained that his skillset makes him a valuable member of current Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus‘ squad.
“I’ll talk firstly about his rugby skills. He does the dark arts. He does the hard work,” Mallett told the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel.
“When he plays a really good game for the Stormers, you’ll see that he’ll have made 15, 16 clean outs of rucks.
‘He’s very, very good at stopping mauls’
“He’s the Bakkies Botha-esque type hitter of rucks. He stops mauls. He (also) generates more maul power. But he’s very, very good at stopping mauls.
“And his tackling is one of his great strengths. I mean, it’s why he’s knocked himself out so many times, because he actually just launches himself into guys from the waist down and occasionally gets his head on the wrong side.
“So he’s not a ball carrier. He’s not probably your primary jumper in the lineout. But he’s the front of the lineout workhorse.
“And so you’ve got to look at him in that sense. How many rucks has he cleaned? How many times he got off the line and made that initial tackle?
“And it’s been a positive tackle, knocking the ball carrier backwards. If you look at those stats, then he’s there and he can stay on the field.
“Because the other thing is unfortunately he’s had a lot of injuries in the early part of his career. So if he can get game-time, you know, 80 minutes, 80 minutes, 80 minutes, you’ll see his stats are right up there.
“Just in those aspects that you need from that type of lock, you can’t have two guys like RG Snyman playing lock.
“Who’s going to get the ball for you?
“You’ve got to get someone getting in there smashing people back. So he does do that. And I’ve seen it and I’ve gone through the steps with (Stormers director of rugby) John Dobson, because I also questioned it. Because I was also looking and seeing (that) he doesn’t seem to ever carry that much.
“So that’s the first point as a rugby player. Those are his strengths.”
Mallett also elaborated on Moerat’s leadership strengths which he believes is important in his selection at Test level and drew a comparison with two former Springboks captains Gary Teichmann and John Smit.
“The second point is he’s a remarkable person. He really is,” said Mallett of Moerat. “I mean, I’ve been fortunate enough to spend a bit of time with him.
‘He’s been captain all his life’
“And the respect the other players have for him, his understanding of how to handle referees. He’s been captain all his life, of all the teams he’s been involved in.
“And that includes Paarl Boys High. And SA U19, SA U21. So he’s got a really good feel for leadership.
“And that is something, as I will know, you shouldn’t just discard that easily.
“You know, the Gary Teichmann thing I’ve said on numerous occasions, that was my biggest mistake (when Mallett dropped Teichmann from his Springboks squad ahead of the 1999 Rugby World Cup).
“And I know John Smit carried on playing probably for two years longer than he probably should have because of his skills as a leader.
“You had Bismarck (du Plessis) pushing hard to knock that door down. But because all the coaches backed John, he stayed on for a couple more years.
“So I think you’ve got to look at Salmaan in that sense. Understand what his job is and what his work rate (is), and his stats you have to look at.
“And then also understand his role as a captain and as a future captain, possibly for the Boks, if he can continue to stay uninjured.”
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