Canan Moodie’s five-star performance in the warm-up game against Argentina must surely have propelled him into the Rugby World Cup squad that will be announced on Tuesday — if he wasn’t there already.
In fact, let’s go further than that, there is good reason to consider Moodie for a starting role in the big games, where he could emulate Frans Steyn the last time rugby’s global showpiece event was staged in France in 2007. Steyn was just 20 at the time but coped well with the pressure of being called into the starting team as a replacement for the injured Jean de Villiers.
You might wonder why there is such enthusiasm for Moodie when the Bok coaches have a plethora of quick, explosive wings to choose from. It’s because of his strength in the aerial game, which is where the Boks were so comprehensively beaten in the early stages of the recent Rugby Championship match against the All Blacks in Auckland.
Willie le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe and Makazole Mapimpi weren’t up to the ball in the air challenge in the early stages of that match at the Mount Smart Stadium and that was when New Zealand gained the momentum that they rode to their 35-20 win. Moodie has the height and presence to blunt opposition aerial attacks and he did that well against the Pumas in Buenos Aires.
He also has the height to get it right nine times out of 10 when it comes to the cross kick or kick pass avenue of attack, as he did for the try that finally got the Boks into the lead this past weekend. We haven’t forgotten either the brilliant try he scored from that avenue of attack against the Wallabies in 2022.
Bomb squad role
With Kolbe a sure selection for the starting team in the big pool games against Scotland and Ireland and then in the play-off phase, it is the remaining two positions that have to be settled. Le Roux is a veteran of the 2019 World Cup win and must be part of the travelling group, but I’d use him only in a Bomb Squad role off the bench, as the aforementioned Frans Steyn did when covering for him in Japan.
For me Willemse is better at dealing with the high balls and he is also more physical and abrasive than Le Roux is. Maybe he doesn’t match Le Roux’s omnipresence as an attacking threat but he is not far off it and he created the try that Makazole Mapimpi scored against the Pumas.
Speaking of Mapimpi, this isn’t going to go down well with everyone but he might be one of the 2019 World Cup winners who will miss out on selection. He might have to be if Moodie is going to be accommodated.
Mapimpi, who scored the first try by a Bok in a World Cup final in Yokohama four years ago, was much better in Buenos Aires than he was in Auckland but he’s still not in top form and both Kurt-Lee Arendse and Moodie are more flush with their form at present. The reason I’d start with Moodie ahead of Arendse is because Arendse and Kolbe are too similar.
You can accommodate one small player like Kolbe or Arendse in a back three, but I am not so sure about two. That is not to say Arendse can’t still play a big role off the bench, at least on those occasions when the Boks revert to the more traditional five/three split between backs and forwards on the bench, unlikely though that may seem.
Given that it was another experimental selection, the win over the Pumas was a good one. The number of changes in the first four games may explain why the visitors weren’t able to convert their dominance, particularly in the first half. With continuity, which coach Jacques Nienaber says will start happening from the next game against Wales, will come greater synchronisation and efficiency.
The Boks were good enough to turn around the negativity that settled after the struggle in Johannesburg seven days earlier.
The Boks do appear to have depth in virtually every position, with Jesse Kriel sending notice that this includes outside centre, where previously there may have been concern about what would happen if Lukhanyo Am was injured.
Pieter-Steph du Toit and Franco Mostert are certainties at blindside flank, but Jean-Luc du Preez made full use of his first opportunity to show that there may be a third potential No 7 to call on should it become necessary.
Siya Kolisi will be in the squad so Deon Fourie, also excellent at the weekend, may have to rely on his versatility value to get a place on the plane to France, with his Stormers teammate Joseph Dweba missing out if it is decided his ability to play flank and hooker means only two hookers travel.
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