London – It is fair comment that the Boks will depart London on Saturday with the nucleus of the team that will try again at the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, but unless those players get some serious coaching, notably in the backline, nothing is going to change by then.
Individually, the Boks have stars in the making in Handre Pollard, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Jan Serfontein and Willie le Roux, but collectively they showed almost nothing at this World Cup. Not one sweeping backline movement in six games (the game against the US B team does not count), or if there was one I must have blinked.
Pollard is a diamond but an unpolished one and if he cannot improve his tactical kicking, then he must make way for Patrick Lambie at 10. De Allende is a brilliant stepper and strong in taking the ball over the advantage line but how many times did he pass to Kriel?
Kriel, playing out of position at 13 – it remains to be seen if the Bulls will keep him there in Super Rugby at the behest of the Springbok coach or reinstall him at 15 – at times appeared to a have big eyes, and that is fair enough for the 21-year-old.
He has tremendous talent but much of it remained unlocked at this World Cup.
This season, Serfontein has been something of a forgotten hero after starting at 13 in every Test in 2014 and he might well force his way back into the starting line-up for Kriel, who could revert to fullback.
Wings Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen had their moments and Habana is unquestionably one of the superstars of the game. He has an enormous following in the Northern Hemisphere and has been a brilliant ambassador for South Africa. He might carry on in the Bok jersey for a season or two and his experience will be invaluable but he won’t make it to the next World Cup.
Pietersen is still only 29 and theoretically could go on to 2019. He can still be blistering on attack and had a decent World Cup, but he is one of those players who can go missing for long periods of a season. If he can rediscover the appetite that made him a World Cup winner in 2007 at the age of 21, that would be great for the Boks. If not, there is queue of hungry young wingers in South Africa, headed by Lwazi Mvovo, who is never short of desire.
There will be a natural change at scrumhalf where Fourie du Preez will pack it in and Ruan Pienaar, although not overly long in the tooth at 31, has had three World Cups and it might be time to give fresh talent a crack. The energetic Rudy Paige and Cobus Reinach are obvious contenders.
The pack has been impressive this World Cup and there is plenty to get excited about with 2019 in mind.
Of the loose forwards in the squad, only Schalk Burger is not going to make it to Japan and probably Willem Alberts, too, who although only 31, is too injury prone. The consistently outstanding Duane Vermeulen is a natural captain-in-waiting; Francois Louw (32) is in the form of his life and must continue, and there is a conveyor belt coughing up quality loose forwards back in South Africa. In this squad there is a feisty talent in Siya Kolisi, who has not had much of a look-in and let’s not forget the desperately unlucky Marcell Coetzee and Heinrich Brüssow.
The tight five that started against the All Blacks could continue en masse for the next season or two although the Beast (32) might fall by the wayside before 2019. That is not a major issue, with young bucks in Trevor Nyakane and Coenie Oosthuizen itching to get a shot.
At tighthead, Frans Malherbe has already come though at Jannie du Plessis’s expense and it is hard to see the 33-year-old reclaim the No 3 jersey going forward.
The second row of Eben Etzebeth and Lood de Jager is the most exciting in world rugby and throw Pieter-Steph du Toit into the bargain and the lock department is well sorted for the future. - The Star