Springboks pick a team to remind us how some stars have stalled
De Allende, Kriel and De Jager all starred at 2015's World Cup. But the team for Saturday's Test against Ireland remind us of their falls too.
Will the real Damian de Allende please stand up for the Springboks? Photo: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile/Gallo Images)
Glance at the Springbok team to face Ireland in Dublin on Saturday evening and you’ll get distinct sense of talents that gone off the rails a bit.
Two years ago, Damian de Allende, Jesse Kriel and Lood de Jager returned from the World Cup with their stocks on the rise.
In a mediocre campaign for Heyneke Meyer and the national side, that trio of rookies had made impressive progress.
Now there are question marks about all three.
De Allende has seemingly lost his ability as a consistent tackle breaker and there are still question marks over his tackling.
It might’ve been a harsh outcome but his red card against the All Blacks at Newlands last month brought his judgement into doubt too.
His partner in 2015, Kriel, has stalled.
He had good days and he has lesser good ones.
On the whole, the 23-year-old hasn’t built on the gains of 2015.
And then there’s De Jager, the member of the trio that’s fallen the furthest.
From South Africa’s Player-of-the-Year in 2015 to a man struggling be first-choice at the Bulls.
But, as has been shown in cases like Siya Kolisi, Coenie Oosthuizen and Pieter-Steph du Toit this season, a bit of faith sometimes really does do the trick.
De Jager already looked more like the whirlwind lock that lit up the Springboks’ play in 2015 at Newlands against New Zealand.
Kriel has played every Test this year – surely an indication to him that the coaching staff see more good than bad in him.
Maybe De Allende will find his mojo when he’s reunited with the man looked so comfortable with in midfield a while ago.
There’s enough negativity surrounding this group of players currently that some cheery (if somewhat blind) optimism isn’t a bad thing.
After all, this is going to be an immensely tough game for the Springboks.
“They beat us here in 2014 and with an experienced coaching team and world class players, they are rightfully considered as the favourites and is one of few teams in the last five years that managed to beat the All Blacks,” said Coetzee.
Springboks: Andries Coetzee, Dillyn Leyds, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Courtnall Skosan, Elton Jantjies, Ross Cronje, Francois Louw, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Coenie Oosthuizen, Malcolm Marx, Beast Mtawarira. Bench: Bongi Mbonambi, Steven Kitshoff, Wilco Louw, Franco Mostert, Uzair Cassiem, Rudy Paige, Handre Pollard, Francois Venter.
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