Jan Serfontein topped the tackle count for the Springboks in their last two Tests, but he hopes to play a much more significant role with ball-in-hand in Saturday’s clash against the Wallabies at Newlands.
The 21-year-old Serfontein was a tackle machine in the narrow defeats to Australia and New Zealand on the Rugby Championship tour Down Under, totalling an astonishing 24 in Wellington and 21 in Perth.
Defence coach John McFarland remarked yesterday that Serfontein has won the team’s internal award of a pair of sunglasses for the best tackle in three out of eight Tests this year.
But his biggest strength is actually carrying the ball. He once told Independent Newspapers that as a centre, he will try to become a mix of Danie Gerber, Sonny Bill Williams and Ma’a Nonu – that would be quite something!
Gerber had the power running base, Williams the silky offloading skills and Nonu the big defence, so while Serfontein seems to have ticked the last box, he still has a way to go as a ball-carrier and playmaker.
The Bulls star has certainly done it before – he was the main man on attack for the SA Under-20 side that won the Junior World Championship in Cape Town in 2012, where he was the second-highest try-scorer in the tournament with four and dotted down in the final against New Zealand.
And while he did do quite a lot of carrying in the June Tests, it was mainly as a “crash-ball” option, so perhaps it would benefit the Boks to utilise Serfontein as a runner more often.
He is already starting at outside centre, but often switches positions with captain Jean de Villiers during games. “At 12 you get a lot of time to get the ball and put it up, especially on the first-phase, especially in our structure.
“At 13, being that channel wider, you don’t get as much ball. So it has been a bit, not frustrating, but it has been an adaptation. It’s something that I don’t want to get used to because I like to get the ball in my hands,” Serfontein said at the Cape Town Stadium yesterday.
“So hopefully in the next two games I can get a bit more ball in my hands on attack.”
He showed what he could do if he is put into space when he nearly scored the winning try against the All Blacks in Wellington, with flyhalf Handré Pollard throwing a short, sharp pass 10 metres out and Serfontein made five in bursting through Beauden Barrett’s tackle.
He came up five metres short of the line, but then Warren Whiteley got in the way of Lood de Jager and the referee blew for accidental obstruction. “I actually got a knock against my head in the game, so I don’t remember much of it! But it was very close, I got some good momentum there, and it was just sad that we couldn’t finish it off after that,” said Serfontein.
“Playing next to Jean, he brings calmness to the backline and he also helps me when I need a bit of help. The fact that he’s played 100 Tests and has so much experience, you can really feel it when you are next to him on the field. He tends to make the right decision more often than not, and his communication makes it so much easier.”
Serfontein had high praise too for his former junior teammate Pollard, who was under enormous pressure against the All Blacks in Wellington after replacing Morné Steyn in the starting line-up, but came through the game with an enhanced reputation after creating a try for Cornal Hendricks and driving the overall Bok approach well on a cold night in slippery conditions.
“Handré has done really well in the step up to Test rugby. Being 20 years old and the flyhalf in New Zealand is really difficult, with the pressure and everything, but I think he handled it very well,” said Serfontein.
“He also brings something new to our game, being flat and attacking the line, and he is also defensively very strong. So he’s the perfect 10, if you look at him in that way. We are both still youngsters, so hopefully we can still play a long time together.”
The 1.87m, 97kg Serfontein will once again have his hands full on Saturday when he comes up against big Wallaby outside centre Tevita Kuridrani, who made a staggering 122 metres of ground with ball-in-hand through 13 carries, beating six defenders and making two clean line-breaks along the way.
In contrast, Serfontein made just three metres from four carries in Perth – it wasn’t much better against the All Blacks, with five metres in four carries – and that statistic simply has to change if the Boks want to put the Wallaby backline under pressure. He has also only scored one try in 14 Tests.
“Kuridrani is a very good player and runs good lines on attack. We have a defence session today, so we will look at their plans. Thirteen is a difficult place to defend at for both teams, so it is an area and space that we would also want to utilise,” he said.
“They have a rush defence, so we will our plans today to see where we will attack, and then we must just execute well and hopefully score a few tries.”
Well, Serfontein has done it before at Newlands when he scored that match-winning try in the Under-20 World Cup in 2012, so he will hope that history can repeat itself … - Cape Times