Bok leaders praise Willie for not putting team at risk

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick and skipper for the day Jesse Kriel have praised fullback Willie le Roux for his honesty in deciding to own up to the slight injury niggle that has cost him the chance of playing in front of his family and friends.

Although the veteran No 15 plays his franchise rugby for the Vodacom Bulls, Le Roux started out his career with Boland and is very much Western Cape born and bred. He notched his 100th cap in Gqeberha a few weeks ago, but with his playing career perhaps nearing an end, he would have loved to have a chance to strut his stuff in Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship clash with Australia.

However, Stick said that with the Boks committed to a 6/2 split between forwards and backs for the game, with Le Roux stacking up as the only outside back reserve, even the most minor of niggles could have posed a potential problem for the home team.

“I must give credit to Willie for being honest with us. He didn’t feel 100 per cent comfortable to go full out for 80 minutes, and with a 6-2 bench split, it would have been a big risk,” said Stick.

“That shows the character of who he is and how much he respects the team. It’s a big loss. Willie is an experienced player, and it would have been nice to see him on the field. But we’re looking forward to seeing what Aphelele Fassi can do.”

Fassi comes in as the late replacement after a poor performance in the 38-22 loss in Johannesburg, but Kriel said he was confident that the Hollywoodbets Sharks fullback would deliver.

“It’s unfortunate that Willie picked up a niggle this week in training but he’s been working so closely with Fassi, and we all know how talented Fassi is, so I’m confident he’ll do a great job,” said Kriel.

“Obviously, it’s disappointing for Willie, I know how much he wanted to play in Cape Town with his family here. But I have no doubt Fassi will step up, like he has over the last few years.”

Stick said the late switch had not disrupted the Boks’ preparation.

“He played last week, so there’s continuity, and he knows exactly how we want to operate. With experienced players around him like Cheslin Kolbe, Jesse, Canan Moodie, and Handré Pollard at 10, that will help.”

The Boks were probably always going to change their game a bit for Cape Town, which offers different conditions to the Highveld, where the underfoot conditions and rarified air often produce a freakishly quick tempo and action-packed games. However, Stick stressed that there would be no significant change to what the Boks set out to do last week.

“We believe we have the game for all conditions, so there won’t be a big change from what we did last week,” he said.

“What we have been working on is our game management. Hopefully that is what will be different. We got it wrong last week; we overplayed. We won’t be making that mistake again.”

Kriel backed his coach’s view that the lessons of last week have been learned and that the Boks will apply the correct strategy this time around. He admitted that after the disappointment of seeing a big lead slip and then a rare defeat at home, this game couldn’t come quick enough for a team chomping at the bit to set the record straight.

“We definitely know what we didn’t get right last weekend, and we’ve rectified that as a team,” Kriel said. “It was great to get back on the training pitch on Monday, to align and get our plan ready. The great thing about this sport is you get another chance. Luckily, we’ve got that chance on Saturday.”