It didn’t take long for the Springbok tour of Europe to drum home the importance of Elton Jantjies getting his head right so he can be ready to be back-up for Handré Pollard at next year’s World Cup.
Jacques Nienaber has said the tour will be about finding answers to searching questions. Flyhalf, and the subject of the pecking order in the position, is his biggest headache. That headache was intensified by the loss to Ireland, for although the Springbok coach tried his best to deflect the questions afterwards, there was no denying that place-kicking was one of the issues that cost his team the game.
Make no mistake, there isn’t amnesia going on here — I am fully aware Jantjies misses kicks too. And there were only seven points left on the table in terms of missed kicks in the 19-16 loss to the world’s No 1 ranked team. But the difference between Jantjies and Damian Willemse and Cheslin Kolbe, the two kickers used in Dublin, is that he is a frontline kicker. Taking on that pressure has been his bread and butter all his rugby-playing life.
It was for Willemse when he was at school and in the early part of his age-group career, but it hasn’t been subsequently. And while the Bok coaches will point out that Kolbe, and for that matter replacement scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, have kicked for their overseas clubs, they’ve never filled the role of first-choice kicker for any length of time.
The problem for the Boks at the Aviva wasn’t just the missed kicks. It was the loss of confidence in the go-for-posts points scoring route once Willemse was hopelessly wide with the first testing penalty after an earlier easy kick in front of the posts. Skipper Siya Kolisi immediately changed his approach by opting to go for the touchline with the following kicks, and there were a few kickable attempts eschewed.
That meant that more than seven points were thrown away, and in a tight arm-wrestle as the Aviva contest became, and against an Irish team that was excellent in defending the maul, that was critical. Nienaber says the Bok place-kickers have been working hard in training, and will continue to do so this week in Marseille as the Boks prepare to play next year’s World Cup hosts France.
Nienaber will know that missing a kick on a practice field when there are no spectators present can just be followed by another attempt, and that this doesn’t come close to replicating the pressure cauldron of an international match. It is several levels up from club rugby, let alone from the training field.
Sure, Willemse might get it right if he is retained in the role for the Marseille game and there will be some who will then say “I told you so”. That though would be missing the point — Willemse and company are unlikely to ever be consistent place-kickers. Almost by definition, the word inconsistent implies that there will be good days, but that they can’t be relied on. A World Cup requires reliability.
Not that Nienaber’s headache when it comes to Willemse, the lack of full international readiness of Johan Goosen after a long injury lay-off, and Jantjies’ head space just revolves around goal-kicking. Willemse is a world-class backline player, but is he an international flyhalf?
Former Bok 1970s fullback and erstwhile successful Western Province coach Dawie Snyman reminded me last week that Willemse has one fatal flaw for a flyhalf — he is not adept at kicking off his weaker foot.
That means he is easily boxed in and tends to try to run himself out of trouble, as he did on a few occasions at the Aviva. Knowing the pivot has a weaker side also makes the team easier to defend against. It wasn’t a coincidence that the best Bok attacking moments came when the greater unpredictability brought by Willie le Roux’s left foot was added to the Bok mix later in the game.
That doesn’t mean that Willemse can’t do a job for the Boks at 10, just that more care needs to be taken then about who stands alongside him in the 10/12 decision-making axis. There is a reason that New Zealanders for a long time referred to the inside-centre as a second five-eight. It recognised the similarity of the roles, and Willemse could do with having a second flyhalf alongside him who can relieve some of the out-of-hand kicking pressure.
The inexperienced Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is the only player in the squad outside Willemse who can double as a flyhalf and No 12, but Nienaber does have the option of playing Manie Libbok at pivot with Willemse alongside him.
I am not sure Libbok is an international player just yet, but he does kick well with both feet, and he and Willemse know each other well from the Stormers. It may sound unfair on Damian de Allende, but that mix might be the Bok coach’s best option for the Marseille game.
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