Quintin van Jaarsveld identifies five Springbok players who’ll be in the spotlight in Saturday’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series opener against the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
Ox Nche
Guess who’s back, back again? Ox is back, tell a friend. Guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back, guess who’s back (if you know, you know).
Bok supporters have been starved of “The Cake Boss” so far this season. Sidelined with a knee injury he suffered just eight minutes into the season opener against England, coincidentally at Ellis Park, Nche is back to full fitness and frothing to get stuck into the All Blacks.
The scrum is one of the Boks’ biggest weapons, and it’ll be at the peak of its powers with Nche returning and linking up with Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw – reassembling the double world champions’ strongest front row.
Paul de Villiers
De Villiers will be full of nervous energy and excitement when he fronts the Haka for the first time on Saturday.
Rassie Erasmus on Thursday explained he was taking a “precautionary approach” to Siya Kolisi’s return from injury. What one could take from that is that Kolisi likely would’ve played had De Villiers not been in the scintillating form that he’s in.
The former Junior Springbok skipper has been a revelation in his maiden season at the highest level and gives the Boks an added edge as a prolific pilferer. The Bok No. 6 jersey carries particularly heavy weight, but thus far it’s turned the 23-year-old into Superman.
Grant Williams
Considering the embarrassment of riches as scrumhalf, with Williams, Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Herschel Jantjies, Embrose Papier, Faf de Klerk and Jaden Hendrikse all fighting for the No. 9 jersey, the man who wears it on any given Saturday has to make the most of the opportunity.
That honour and pressure fall on Williams this week, and the pressure is amplified given the high stakes of the series opener and the fact that he’ll be going head-to-head with one of the best halfbacks in the world in the fit-again Cam Roigard.
There’s an added wrinkle to clashes against the Kiwis for Williams, as well, as he mentioned earlier this week that he has family members who support the men in black. “It will give me bragging rights if we can get one up on them. So it will be a massive privilege,” he said.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
The pivotal flyhalf role was one of the positions where it was uncertain who would start, not for a lack of options but rather that the three candidates all bring something different to the table.
Manie Libbok seemed the most likely to wear the No. 10 jersey, but Erasmus is nothing if not unpredictable and opted for Feinberg-Mngomezulu instead, with Libbok providing cover on the bench and Handre Pollard missing out altogether.
After being out of action for two months due to an ankle injury, Feinberg-Mngomezulu played the full 80 minutes in the Boks’ 17-10 win over Los Pumas in Buenos Aires two weeks ago, starting the game at flyhalf and finishing it at fullback.
Erasmus evidently saw enough from the prodigy to back him for Saturday’s massive showdown. Now it’s up to Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who was the best pivot in the world last year, to deliver.
Damian de Allende
Twelve years after making his Bok debut in the 13-6 win over Argentina in Pretoria, De Allende will don the No. 12 jersey once again and make his 100th Test appearance for South Africa on Saturday.
Having started his career with Western Province and the Stormers, De Allende’s rise saw him move to the Kintetsu Liners, Wild Knights, Munster and back to the Wild Knights.
The 34-year-old has scored 11 tries in the Green and Gold, holds the record for the most capped centre pairing in Bok history with Jesse Kriel and is a two-time World Cup winner.
“Boogz” is now set to become only the 10th player in history to play 100 Tests for South Africa, following in the footsteps of Kolisi, Willie le Roux, Eben Etzebeth, Victor Matfield, Bryan Habana, Tendai Mtawarira, John Smit, Jean de Villiers, and Percy Montgomery.
Rassie Erasmus praised the star midfielder this week, saying, “We are all very excited for Damian, and to achieve this milestone in this series makes it even more special. He’s a great team man, and servant to the game, so we hope we can make it a memorable day for him.
“That said, his focus all week has only been on this match, and he will certainly not let the occasion shadow what he has to do on the field.”
Quintin van Jaarsveld is a former MDDA-Sanlam SA Local Sports Journalist of the Year and a former three-time Vodacom KwaZulu-Natal Sports Journalist of the Year. Formerly the sports editor and Outstanding Journalist of the Year award winner at The Fever Media Group, deputy editor at eHowzit, editor at SARugby.com and senior staff writer at Rugby365.com, he boasts over 20 years of experience.
