The rookie Nick Mallett believes has ‘maturity to lead’ Springboks and ‘one position I would be a bit nervous of’ with the All Blacks coming
Paul de Villiers and, inset, Jaco Williams have been new additions to the Springboks this month
Ex-Springboks boss Nick Mallett has run the rule over his former team’s July start to the Nations Championship, naming a rookie forward as future captaincy material, highlighting one position of potential weakness and outlining what he would do with the fit-again Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
South Africa rounded off their opening three-match block last Saturday with a win over Wales to add to victories over England and Scotland, leaving them confidently looking ahead to the next assignment block which features a flying visit to Argentina before embracing the demands of the Greatest Rivalry, the four-match Test series versus the All Blacks.
It was the late 1990s when Mallett led the Springboks to a record 17-Test match winning streak, going on to coach Stade Francais before taking over Italy. His South African team accommodated Rassie Erasmus in its back-row, and he has now given his verdict on how the Boks have performed this month with his former player at the helm and progressing the squad depth ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup in Australia.
Reflecting on the July wins in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Durban, Mallett took a particular shine to newcomer Paul de Villiers, the rookie back-rower who was parachuted in for his Test debut when skipper Siya Kolisi pulled up lame the day before the opening round match versus England.
“The stats stand out there for him…”
So well did De Villiers perform that Erasmus kept him in the starting line-up against the Scots and the Welsh, and this introduction to Test-level rugby impressed Mallett no end. “The stats stand out there for him; he really was outstanding,” he enthused on the latest episode of Talking Boks.
“He has been very good all three games. As a debutant, to maintain your place in the team for three games over three weeks is outstanding. He has been good in every single game, and I thought he was outstanding in this one (versus Wales).
“He has also got great leadership ability as well. I know Rassie likes sharing captaincy around; he has given it to (Jesse) Kriel, he has given it to Pieter-Steph du Toit, but in time Paul de Villiers has got the maturity to lead this team with a lot of effectiveness.”
Erasmus capped a total of 43 players across the three Springbok matches and what was achieved with the rotation in the pack left him feeling optimistic ahead of welcoming the All Blacks, rivals he believes took a huge stride forward with their style of play when dismissing the challenge of Ireland in Auckland last Saturday.
“From the forwards perspective, we [South Africa] have done really well in expanding our strength in depth there. It seems any pack that we put on the field can take on any team in the world, even the All Blacks,” he reckoned.
“I must quickly give them credit; I really thought Dave Rennie got his team to be so much more direct. The ball carriers, they have really battled with ball carriers in their team, and we saw (Patrick) Tuipulotu, we saw (Tupou) Vaa’i, we saw their hooker who came on (Asafo Aumua); he was absolutely phenomenal, very physical, and obviously Ardie Savea. They really did carry well.
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“And (Quinn) Tupaea, the centre, he was very physical as was Jordie Barrett. It seems as if they are following the South African template, which is very much go down the middle of the field, make breaches down the field prior to moving the ball out wide.
“In our team we have got tremendous ball carriers. We have seen Cobus Wiese carry really well this last game. Lock is a problem if they don’t come through. Someone like Eben (Etzebeth) with the concussion, Lood (de Jager) is carrying injuries and (Franco) Mostert is carrying injuries, then that could be a problem for us.
“But we have got (Ruan) Nortje who is very athletic, we have got Cobus who can do a job, we have got Ruben van Heerden who can do a job now. It would be the one position I would be a bit nervous of if there were any more injuries than there are at the moment.
“Loose forward we are really well covered and front row we are really covered. I even think that at hooker, even though Jan-Hendrik Wessels hasn’t been given an opportunity except off the bench, we have got three guys there in (Johan) Grobbelaar, Wessels and (Malcolm) Marx, so in almost every position in the pack we have got at least three players who can step up.”
Mallett also addressed the Feinberg-Mngomezulu conundrum – whether to take the fit-again fly-half over to the Test match in Argentina or allow him to make his comeback when the Stormers host the All Blacks in Cape Town on August 7?
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“We are so well covered at fly-half,” he began. “I mean it’s quite unbelievable. Yaqeen Ahmed was brilliant for the U20s; with the way Rassie selects, he could go straight into that game against Argentina. I wouldn’t be amazed if Rassie would do that; he is such a talented youngster.
“(Vusi) Moyo and Quan Horn are still the back-up guys at the moment; it’s between Sacha and Manie (Libbok) and obviously (Handre) Pollard to kick off against the All Blacks. Obviously, Sacha would benefit either playing for the Stormers against the All Blacks – that is going to be a cracking game.
“But also playing with the Springboks might also be important for him as well. If he is fit and ready to go and Rassie wants to take the injured players over to Argentina and give them more opportunity, why would you be taking Eben, Lood and all those guys and then say to Sacha, ‘No, we will give you to the Stormers’. He will probably stay in the tent, stay with the Boks and get a little bit more used to how they have been developing the last five, six weeks.”
Moyo was one of four new caps to start for the Springboks in the 43-0 win over Wales, and Mallett was impressed with his 48-minute debut. “If you look at the debutantes, they all did well. Vusi Moyo, beautiful little cross kick which Jaco Williams managed to palm down to Jesse Kriel. He went back and flicked that ball back inside, and then he was under huge pressure to avoid the tackle, pass back inside.
“He looked composed; he kicked well for posts; he had a very good 40, 50 minutes. And then Jaco Williams was excellent, absolutely outstanding. His interplay with Herschel Jantjies, great pace around the field and he contributed to Kriel’s try.
“We had Van Heerden making the tackles that he always does for the Stormers, putting himself around and playing with a lot of aggression, and then you had (Carlu) Sadie, that scrum that (Cobus) Reinach called, the loose forwards were going back so fast they would have fallen in their bums if they hadn’t been attached to the scrum, it was an unbelievably aggressive scrum that.
“So everyone did well individually; it was just collectively our rhythm and accuracy wasn’t quite there. We mentioned that the All Blacks were so good in the morning, and I was hoping to see a clinical performance by South Africa, but it was an enthusiastic, passionate performance by the team. No over-confidence; it was just slippery ball mitigated against a high-scoring game.”
