Africa-Press – South-Africa. Canan Moodie’s call-up to the Springbok squad doesn’t mean Aphelele Fassi has been consigned to the proverbial scrapheap.
That’s national coach Jacques Nienaber’s assurance following his decision to fill the void left by the suspended Kurt-Lee Arendse and injured Cheslin Kolbe at wing with the precocious 19-year-old Bulls star.
Some expected that Fassi, currently in pre-season training with the Sharks, would’ve been summarily recalled given his relatively extensive knowledge of team structures, but the net is clearly being cast wider.
“In terms of Aphelele, we know now what we have in him and he has been exposed to this environment before. He spent the whole year with us [last year] in all the various bubbles.
“He has a good idea of how we operate,” said Nienaber.
“We, as a coaching group, have scanned and written performance analysis on probably 60 to 70 players and Canan has been on our radar for quite some time, like Kurt-Lee and all the younger guys that we have in our mix now.”
It’s indeed been a meteoric rise for the young man from Paarl, who – like Fassi – is equally adept at playing fullback or wing.
His composure in the latter stages of the Bulls’ successful United Rugby Championship campaign stood out in particular.
“This will be the first time that Canan is with us in our environment. For him, it’s just to learn, to enjoy the experience and to impress us as much as he can by getting to know the players and getting to know and understand the coaches,” said Nienaber.
“The thinking behind bringing him into the squad is because we really like what we see in him and what he produced with the Bulls. He has played some good rugby.”
It will be a consolation to Fassi, however, that it really doesn’t seem as if Moodie will suddenly be elevated into a playing role anytime soon, a fact bolstered by the Boks opting to shift experienced midfielder Jesse Kriel to the wing for Saturday’s Rugby Championship clash against the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
“The main thing with Jesse is he brings a lot of experience – over 50 Test caps,” said Nienaber.
“He understands our system, he understands how we do things and that is the main thing.”
Warrick Gelant is also still in the mix as well.
Kick-off is at 17:05.
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