Player versatility now a key aspect, and a major strength, of the Boks

The Springbok team that will do battle against Romania in their second match of the Rugby World Cup on Sunday is a true testament to the depth in the squad.

And the main reason for this is due to Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber backing players who bring versatility to the squad — in the forwards and the backs.

Among the forwards, Trevor Nyakane, Deon Fourie, Franco Mostert, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Marco van Staden and Kwagga Smith can all play in more than one position, while in the backline the likes of Damian Willemse, Grant Williams, Willie le Roux, Jesse Kriel, Canan Moodie, Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse can double up in different positions.

The depth in versatility has allowed the Boks’ management team to adjust and make smart selections despite the absence of key core players like Handre Pollard, Lukhanyo Am, Lood de Jager, and now the injured Malcolm Marx.

Never a compromise in quality

All of these versatile players (mentioned above) are comfortable with switching positions from one week to the next; they fit into the system and understand the team’s requirements and needs each week.

The impressive thing about this versatility is that when the players step into their secondary positions there’s never a compromise in the quality of performance.

Key to this is the fact the Boks’ management do thorough background checks on the players and they know which positions they played in in their junior years, and they let them run in their cover positions during training.

This ensures the players don’t miss a beat when called into action in their “new” positions. An example of this would be how Moodie has smoothly stepped into the outside centre position when he is actually a wing.

So, against Romania, we can expect quality from Willemse at flyhalf, Williams on the wing and even when De Klerk comes on at flyhalf.

Former Springbok coach Jake White once mentioned that if Bulls midfielder Wandisile Simelane wanted to be a Bok, he needed to be able to play in multiple positions. His sentiments have been proven right by the selections of the Bok World Cup squad.

Versatility will be the standard entry point for all future Boks.