Paul de Villiers will be taking on the biggest challenge of his fledgling international career, when he faces the All Blacks on Saturday.
Springbok loose forward Paul de Villiers in action during their Nations Championship match against Wales in Durban last month. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
Rising loose forward star Paul de Villiers has been backed to continue his impressive deputising for skipper Siya Kolisi, when the Springboks open their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) campaign against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5:10pm).
At the start of the Boks‘ international season, De Villiers was left out of the match 23 for their opening Test of the year against England, only to be thrust straight into the starting side on match day, after a late injury to Kolisi during the previous day’s captains run ruled the skipper out of the match.
The injury ended up keeping Kolisi out of all three of the Boks’ Nations Championship games, with De Villiers starting every one, and putting in superb performances in all three.
Kolisi was then expected to lead the Boks in the RGR series, but his return to action against Argentina two weeks ago, saw him last 24 minutes before suffering another hamstring injury.
Playing it safe
At Thursday’s team announcement, coach Rassie Erasmus said that the Boks could have pushed Kolisi through, but decided not to risk him, especially with a player as capable and in-form as De Villiers to call upon, and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick backed that up at Friday’s captain’s presser.
“Not having Siya, he’s our captain and our leader, will always be a big loss for us,” said Stick.
“We didn’t know that Siya was not going to be ready for this game. But the trials that we’ve given Paul de Villiers, from the beginning, against big teams, gave him an opportunity. Everyone is talking about him now,” said Stick.
“One thing that I enjoy about him is the maturity at that age. He understands his role in the team very well. Irrespective of your age, if you take full ownership of what needs to be done, you are a leader in your space. And I must say that boy’s a very smart one.
“I know it’s a different beast, playing against the All Blacks. It’s one of the toughest games you can ever play in your career. But I think he’s the right person. He’s a warrior, he doesn’t stand back for anyone, and that’s what we need for this game.”
Interesting calls
A few other interesting calls were made by the Bok management this week when they announced their team for Saturday’s match, with flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu preferred to Manie Libbok (on the bench) and Handre Pollard, while Wilco Louw, who often plays off the bench, gets a start while Thomas du Toit misses out completely.
“It’s always a tough challenge to select a match 23, week in, week out. Even in all the other games that we’ve played in the Nations Championship, there were always heavy debates in the boardroom between us as coaches,” explained Stick.
“We always look at the challenge first. The challenge that the All Blacks are going to bring. They talk about their high-tempo game, they talk about keeping the ball-in-play time.
“For us, we had to make sure that we select the best possible team for us to perform on the weekend. It doesn’t mean next week it’s going to be the same team. We’re not only looking for a 60-minute performance, we’re looking for an 80-minute performance.”
