Damian Willemse is excited about playing in a backline including the likes of Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Canan Moodie.
An exciting Springbok backline has license to thrill, but utility back Damian Willemse says that they will be taking a more measured approach when they battle it out in their Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in Wellington on Saturday.
Willemse is usually part of a Stormers backline that attacks with reckless abandon, and will be playing alongside his teammate, flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, on Saturday while their former teammate, Manie Libbok, will come off the bench at some stage.
But the major aim for the Boks in the coming match is being a lot more accurate and clinical than they were during their loss a week previously at Eden Park, and despite having a young and exciting backline on show, being flashy is not a priority.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re clinical. Not like last week where we had about 10 entries into the All Blacks 22m and didn’t capitalise on many of them. So that’s been a large part of our focus this week,” said Willemse on Thursday.
“For us, we’re focused on going out there on Saturday and making sure we can play positively and get the victory.
“Expressing yourself isn’t always playing flashy rugby. For us it’s about nailing our roles, and if an opportunity presents itself, we take it. That’s expressing ourselves.”
Inside centre
Willemse will be starting at inside centre for the Boks for the first time, having featured there a few times off the bench. He has, however, played there regularly for the Stormers and will be aiming to impress in the absence of stalwart Damian de Allende.
“It’s a new position for me. I haven’t started there yet, but I have played a couple of Test matches at inside centre later in the game,” explained Willemse.
“So it’s a new role, stepping into Doogz’s (De Allende) responsibilities in the No 12 jersey, but it’s something I’m really excited about, especially linking with Sacha and (Canan) Moodie (outside centre) and the back three outside me.
“I’m very excited to play with Sacha. We’ve done a lot of work this week to make sure we’re aligned going into this Test, what we can expect from each other and how we want to play the game.”
Willemse added that himself and Moodie had been working hard on their defensive structures, so that they would be able to combat the All Blacks’ usual unstructured attack, that they are well known for and utilise to devastating effect.
“We’re just working on getting that defensive pairing straight. It’s basically just small, micro-communications we need to get right, especially with the way we expect New Zealand to attack us, and what they showed in the first 20 minutes last week,” said Willemse.
