Victor Matfield hails ‘clever’ Springboks rookie who is the ‘closest’ replica of Rassie Erasmus
Cameron Hanekom (image provided by Blue Bulls Rugby) and an insert of Springboks legend Victor Matfield.
Springboks legend Victor Matfield believes that Rassie Erasmus has found a modern-day version of himself in the form of Cameron Hanekom.
Hanekom is set to become the 52nd player to represent South Africa this year if he comes off the bench against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.
The 22-year-old was initially overlooked for the Springboks touring squad but was called up following the injury to Damian Willemse and now gets his chance to make his first appearance in Green and Gold.
Hanekom has been a standout for the Bulls since last season and was largely tipped for a maiden call-up before injury denied him an opportunity in July earlier this year. However, Erasmus regularly mentioned the back-rower as a player they were looking at for the future.
Cameron Hanekom likened to Rassie Erasmus
A hard-working loose forward, Hanekom has regularly featured at number eight for the Bulls but his well-rounded skillset has seen him start on the side of the scrum.
Much like Erasmus in his playing days, the Bulls forward has excellent hands, great pace and wonderful footwork to go with his nitty-gritty graft and physicality with Matfield comparing the Bok newbie to the head coach.
The legendary lock is also pleased that the Springboks coaching team did not throw Hanekom straight into the mix once he returned from injury and made him wait a little bit longer to get his chance.
“I like it that they waited a little bit longer to give him his debut,” Matfield said on Supersport’s Final Whistle.
“You can be pushed too early but you can never wait too long to get your opportunity because you got more experience, a little bit harder, and a bit tougher. A lot of the time, they give guys that opportunity in that first year and everything just works for them, it comes easy then they get to the Boks maybe it’s just a different level, one or two things don’t go your way.”
That led the ex-lock to liken Hanekom to Erasmus as he believes that like the Boks boss, the newbie is a “clever” player.
“If you look at Cameron and you think about Rassie Erasmus, I think he is the player that’s the closest to Rassie when he played,” he said.
“He’s clever he understands distance, he’s tough and probably not the biggest loose forward but still he understands the game, he is explosive, he’s not scared he goes for big hits – so I think Rassie likes how he plays but he just wanted him to get a bit tougher because Rassie likes tough players and I think he’s ready now.”
Fitting into the Springboks team
Matfield’s fellow panellist and former South African sevens captain John Mokuena likened Hanekom’s opportunity to that of his Bulls’ teammate Elrigh Louw who was initially overlooked for the squad but has now nailed down his role after a standout Rugby Championship campaign.
Mokuena did issue a warning to Hanekom that he will need to tailor his game to Boks as Erasmus will not change this to accommodate him.
“It’s a similar situation to Elrigh Louw in that if f you are just patient enough and you keep on knocking it the door, your opportunity will come,” he said.
“Louw was in the Springboks set up and then released back to the Bulls and all of sudden is a regular. His impact off the bench against England, a massive, massive work rate. He provides a situation that when Pieter-Steph du Toit comes off the field it’s a like-for-like and that’s an ideal situation to be in.
“With a guy like Cameron Hanekom, it offers you even more. Now you can move Pieter-Steph to lock if needed but his biggest challenge is going to be how he fits into the Springboks set-up.
“Let’s face it, the Springboks are not going to change their way of play just to accommodate him – he has to find a way to accommodate the Springboks in his style of play.”
