Former Springbok eighthman Warren Whiteley is convinced that Evan Roos can still make a success of himself at international level.
Former Springbok and Lions eighthman Warren Whiteley believes that Evan Roos’ time to shine at international level will come as long as he remains patient.
Plenty has been said and written about the relationship between Bok coach Rassie Erasmus and Roos, and the reasons behind Roos not getting regular game-time at Test level.
But current Sharks forwards coach Whiteley, who only made his Bok debut as a 26-year-old back in 2014, said that there is still plenty of time for Roos to force his way into the mix and become a regular for the national team in the coming years.
Still young
“Evan is still young. He’s only 25. He still has plenty of time left in his rugby career, and he just has to keep pushing. We know what he can do when he’s got ball in hand and he’s got space. He’s got brilliant feet and brilliant evasion,” said Whiteley.
“I think his biggest work-on is when he doesn’t have so much space, then he has to build momentum and stop momentum and at Test match level there is very often little space.
“He has to learn how to generate power in contact situations on defence and attack, when there isn’t a lot of space. I think that is what he needs to focus on at the moment.”
Whiteley continued: “If you look at a guy like Kwagga (Smith), when he first started internationally that was something that at first took him a while to learn, and he has slowly but surely become indispensable.
“He is a different player to Evan, but it took him some time to be comfortable at that level, he had to develop his game, and we have seen how valuable he has become to the Springboks.
“So Evan just has to be patient. He’s still young and I think he will get there. He’s a quality player, and he just has to bite the bullet and keep going. We have some fantastic loose forwards in this country, and there is always going to be massive competition.
“Rassie would have spoken to him and would have told him exactly what he needs to work on, so I am confident he will be back in the Springbok mix eventually.”
Premature end
The 37-year-old Whiteley was unfortunate to see his playing career come to a premature end in 2019 after a chronic knee injury forced his hand and moved him into coaching fulltime.
In the end he played 23 games for the Springboks and captained them on two occasions, and admits that he would have found it tough to mix it up with the current crop of Bok loose forwards.
“I definitely wouldn’t be able to now, I am too old and my playing days are long over,” said Whiteley with a chuckle.
“Now I’ve got the whistle in my hand and am chasing the guys around. So it’s been wonderful to watch this group of Springboks and how they have evolved over the last couple of years.
“It is just phenomenal to see the competition that there is within each position and I can tell you that there is more competition than there has ever been in the Springboks at the moment.
“It is just incredible to see and I think that it brings the best out of the players. Leading up to the World Cup (in 2027) the competition is just going to get bigger and bigger.
“At eighthman especially, we have Jasper (Wiese), we have injured guys like Elrigh (Louw) and Cameron (Hanekom), and Evan, as well as all the other players that can play across the back three. So it is just an amazing and a privilege to see at this time.”
