Johannesburg - The Springboks will be better off going into the Rugby Championship with the Sevens experience of Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard according to assistant coach and former Sevens star Mzwandile Stick.
De Jongh and Hougaard could find themselves playing starring roles in the Springboks' ambition of playing running rugby after both players were cast into the rugby wilderness under the previous regime of Heyneke Meyer.
Stick, himself a former captain of the national Sevens team, believes that the skill and experience that the duo bring will be of value to the team during the Champion-ship and they could very well be the surprise package needed to ignite the Springboks into playing the expansive game that many rugby fanatics having been begging for.
However, the Springboks will have to wait until Sunday for the Sevens duo, who are still at the Rio Olympic Games, to join the squad prior to their journey to Nelspruit along with the overseas-based players who too will make up the full complement of the squad.
Stick, though, looked extremely excited at the prospect of spicing up the Springboks game with the skill and experience De Jongh and Hougaard have amassed in the past few months of playing the shorter version of the game.
“From someone who has been involved with Sevens, one thing you can’t question about them is that they will bring energy.
“They will bring discipline, which is something you learn from the Sevens because you only have seven guys on the field. Those guys are always switched on because they know if you make one mistake then you will be punished.
That is something that we want to instil in our players in the 15 men game. We need to get 15 players working hard, bringing in the skill and positive energy like we have in guys such as Warren Whiteley who has played Sevens as well. I think the coach did a great thing in bringing back Juan de Jongh and Francois Hougaard.
Those are the guys we talk about when talking running rugby. If you talk about playing running rugby you need the right tools and those guys will bring in exactly what we need,” said Stick on Thursday.
Besides the Sevens pair, Stick is pinning his hopes on the energy that the nine Lions brought into the camp on Thursday as a springboard to making players believe that the running game is well within the Springboks’ grasp.
Stick complimented the Lions coaching staff of Johan Ackermann and assistant Swys de Bruin. He believes that more consultation with franchise coaches will make it easy for everyone to sing from the same song sheet when it comes to the running game becoming part of the South African rugby’s DNA.
“I think step-by-step it is closing. If you look at the way the Lions were playing and the intensity they were playing with, it means we’ve got what it takes and we are getting there. But it is not going to change overnight, it will take time. From us as the coaches we need to take responsibility and make sure that we invest in the players and the kind of skill that we want from them.
I must compliment Swys (de Bruin) and Johan Ackermann because if the Springboks want to play a certain kind of rugby we must drive it with our franchises. To see the Lions and a couple of other teams trying to play running rugby is something that we are trying to drive. It is going to take time but we are on the right track. We are talking to coaches around the country and learning from them and that is what is going to be needed for our country to go forward,” Stick said.
The Star