Nick Mallett wades into Siya Kolisi versus Paul de Villiers’ debate: ‘It’s squeaky bum time for older Springboks’
Springboks Siya Kolisi and Paul de Villiers.
Former Springboks head coach Nick Mallett says that Siya Kolisi and Paul de Villiers are very different players and has moved to rubbish the suggestion that the latter could replace the former in the squad.
However, he admits that Kolisi needs to play ‘very well’ against Argentina if he is to feature in the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry matches against the All Blacks.
De Villiers has been hyped up after his performances during the Nations Championship, making his official debut against England following the late withdrawal of the back-to-back World Cup-winning captain.
The Stormers ace went on to don the number six jersey in the two other fixtures against Scotland and Wales and was named man-of-the-match for his shift in the latter.
Stuart Barnes questions if this is the end for the Springboks skipper
Former England fly-half turned scribe and pundit Stuart Barnes questioned whether De Villiers’ rise could spell the end of Kolisi’s reign over the famed number six Green and Gold jersey.
“Have we seen the end of Siya Kolisi as Springboks captain? A giant of the game, an all-time great, but all good things come to pass,” he said on the Times’ The Ruck podcast.
“Has Rassie Erasmus found the man to take South Africa to the next level in Paul de Villiers? We haven’t seen Kolisi; what we have seen is his replacement, a young man, come on and be as good as Ruben Kruger and Heinrich Brussow were.”
While the duo play the same position for the Boks, they bring contrasting styles to the role, and South Africa have had that for several years now, firstly with Kolisi and Francois Louw and more recently with Kolisi, Kwagga Smith and even Marco van Staden.
Mallett has likened De Villiers’ approach to that of Smith, being a more elusive carrier and more of a poaching threat, whilst Kolisi is direct and favours a counter ruck over a pilfer.
Stuart Barnes makes bold ‘the end’ prediction for Siya Kolisi regarding Springboks captaincy
Different types of players
“Siya is a great ball carrier. He’s an immensely dense runner. He is compact and he bounces people off,” he said on the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel and Gavin Rich.
“His nickname in Xhosa is the concrete mixer; the way he plays is like a runaway concrete mixer truck. So when you put him into positions out in the wider spaces, he’s got tremendous offloading skills, very good hands, and he carries exceptionally well. He hits hard in on defence. His preference is to counter ruck more than it is to steal.
“He has got a very good work rate around the ruck; when he’s close to it, he’s quite prepared to go in and physically take an opponent off the ball to try and win the turnover.”
Turning his attention to the Bok rookie, he continued: “Paul is different in the sense that he’s a more evasive runner. He tries not to run into players. He tries to step and beat him, and he has got very good feet.
“He’s got good passing skills; he’s got the ability to draw and pass rather than smash the guy out of the way. His instincts are to be right over the tackle, the moment we get a guy on the ground, because he’s very, very good at it. His body positioning is outstanding. He listens to the ref. His balance is brilliant, and he stays on his feet, and he’s over the ball, and he’s like a limpet. He’s very, very difficult to get off the ball.
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“So those are the differences between the two. Both of them are very effective, but Paul de Villiers has been playing really well.”
Siya Kolisi needs a big game
The former Italy boss was not willing to write Kolisi off just yet but said that he is due a big game on his return from injury, adding that while Rassie Erasmus does have a lot of depth at his disposal, it is worthless if he doesn’t use it.
“A lot of people have question marks around how far Siya Kolisi is going to go. In his mind, he is preparing to go to the 2027 World Cup, but the performance of Paul de Villiers has been such that he is going to have to play really well to keep Paul out of the team,” Mallett said.
“We know that Rassie shares the leadership role around the squad quite easily. Siya is an absolutely fabulous leader, but he needs to play, and he needs to play really well against Argentina because he’s going to be tested against the All Blacks.
“Remember that Siya was used for 45 to 50 minutes, then Kwagga Smith would come on to finish the game, and we know what his battle stats are like – he is an incredibly energetic rugby player and Paul de Villiers is equally so.
“So if Siya does start, we know that someone like Paul will be coming off the bench to finish the game with high intensity. We are getting to squeaky bum time in where these older players have got to keep performing and keep performing because when we say we’ve got strength in depth, it’s no good leaving these really good youngsters snapping at their heels but not putting them on the field and getting them to perform against top opposition.”
