Africa-Press – South-Africa. A guy like Damian (Willemse), in our eyes, is a flyhalf.”
This was the forthright declaration by SA director of rugby Rassie Erasmus in putting to bed any doubts about the future of the Stormers utility back insofar as the national team set-up is concerned.
“We see him going to the World Cup as a flyhalf,” Erasmus emphasised, as he welcomed a host of utility players into the two squads named for duty this November.
Erasmus, together with Springbok coaches Jacques Nienaber and Mzwandile Stick, briefed reporters on Friday following the announcement of the Springbok and SA A squads travelling to the UK soon.
Willemse, normally listed as a utility back, was tagged under the flyhalf section for this tour owing to a number of factors.
Handre Pollard is injured; Elton Jantjies is taking some personal time away from the game and Frans Steyn has injury concerns of his own.
Willemse is no stranger to the position at the highest level having been the pivot for the Boks recently to good effect.
He was instrumental in getting the Boks the win against Wales in June; he slotted in with a bullet of a pass to Makazole Mapimpi in the second match against the All Blacks in Johannesburg and then, when he was finally named as a starting 10 for two away matches, only a concussion would rule him out of finishing the Rugby Championship.
Springbok management, however, are alive to the pressing Achilles heel that is placekicking.
“People forget that he (Willemse) kicked that last penalty for us to win the Wales match … in terms of goalkicking, there are a lot of guys who can kick really well and we’ve been working hard at that,” Erasmus said.
The World Cup-winning coach was at pains to impress on reporters that they were hardly “thin” on No 10 options.
“If you look at our flyhalf situation, we’re not thin. We’re not thin at all. There are three guys who play in that position who are not available and still we’ve got five who can play for us here, including Cheslin (Kolbe). So it looks thin, but when you know you can shift guys around, then you’ve got another cover.”
Stick also weighed in on the matter saying with the goalkickers around, there won’t be pressure on an individual to take responsibility of the kicking, particularly if said individual is struggling or having an “off day”.
The first group of players will leave on Saturday evening. Those picked for the SA A squad will travel next week.
Springbok year-end tour fixtures:
Saturday, 5 November: South Africa vs Ireland (Dublin – Aviva Stadium)
Thursday, 10 November: SA A vs Munster (Cork)
Saturday, 12 November: South Africa v France (Marseille – Stade VeĢlodrome)
Thursday, 17 November: SA A v Bristol Bears (Bristol – Ashton Gate)
Saturday, 19 November: South Africa v Italy (Genoa – Luigi Ferarris Stadium)
Saturday, 26 November: South Africa v England (London – Twickenham)
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