The elements should test Fassi’s core fullback skills

When some of the injured Springboks, SA Rugby officials and the rugby media joined up with the Klipdrift representatives to celebrate the renewal of a partnership that is now 15 years old, there was a lot of attention paid on what was happening outside of the Hamiltons clubhouse.

It’s winter in Cape Town, and you do have to question why big games, and tournaments, are ever scheduled for the city at this time of the year.

If there is one region in South Africa where rugby should be a summer sport, it is the Western Cape, as we were reminded as the rain bucketed down and turned the Hamiltons field, adjacent to DHL Stadium, into something resembling a paddy field.

The injured Bok and DHL Stormers loose-forward Deon Fourie, he of the freaky ability to defy Father Time, and who seeing his nickname is “Brannas”, after his preferred tipple, was a most fitting attendee, agreed with the general consensus that unless something miraculous happens to the weather, Saturday’s game won’t provide typical Barbarians running rugby.

Alas, that miracle change to the weather appears unlikely, for rain is predicted to abate for a while on Saturday but return at 4pm, just an hour or so before kick-off.

But while that won’t suit the many fans coming to the game, or for that matter people who are hoping for something spectacular to happen in the match, the Bok attack coach Tony Brown may have had it right earlier in the week -  “The conditions should bother the Barbarians more than they will us.”

It is the Barbarians who exist to entertain. You would say that is also part of the Bok brief generally, but they have an additional drive - they also need to win. This is the start of a new international season for them, not an end of season game where players can let their hair down and the result is less important.

WHY RAIN COULD BE WELCOME

And given that Bok coach Rassie Erasmus and his assistants will want to see the players tested, maybe there are some areas where the falling rain might be welcomed.

We will only know later on Thursday who the Barbarians halfbacks are, but it would be surprising if the Barbarians jersey will completely negate what should be innate in any halfback - when the weather is inclement, you kick the ball.

That means there will be three players, and one in particular, who could be in for a busy evening under the stadium lights. Wings Cheslin Kolbe and Kurt-Lee Arendse, but more so fullback Aphelele Fassi.

For this won’t be a game where Fassi’s ability to attack should come to the fore, but rather the safety he showed last year, in his first full season of international rugby, under the high ball and generally in covering the back field, as well as his field kicking.

South African players don’t get to play in wet weather games as regularly as some of their overseas counterparts, so for Fassi the chance to test himself in the wet, if indeed the blanket of rain enveloping the Mother City does stick around, should be welcomed. As it should by Erasmus, for this could also be a good test for his flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Fassi and Feinberg-Mngomezulu were arguably the top two newcomers for the Boks last year, although Gerhard Steenekamp and Ruan Nortje, among others, could rightly have something to say about that, and it is going to be interesting to see how they go in what could be a tricky second season of international rugby.

STILL LEARNING

Both have experienced players competing for their places - in Fassi’s case Damian Willemse and Willie le Roux and in Feinberg-Mngomezulu there is Handre Pollard - but will feel they learned from their international experiences so far. That is certainly the case for Fassi.

“I’ve looked to improve on my work rate and my communication, and I am willing to learn. My kicking game has also come along, but I am still learning,” said the 27-year-old who played his initial games for the Boks on the wing but graduated to his preferred position last year.

He played eight tests last year, and although Saturday’s game doesn’t have test match status, he sees this as a game akin to the highest level of the sport.

“100 percent it’ll be a test match approach (from us),” he said, before adding that there was still freedom “to express ourselves” within the Bok structures.

If the game is played in wet weather there may be less of that, but then other aspects, such as his communication with the other members of the back three, will come under the spotlight.

“It’s fantastic to play with them,” said Fassi of the two wings, who are both significantly more experienced at international level than he is. “We’ve played together a fair bit, so we know each other well, and I’m looking forward to playing with them again.

“We are approaching this as a test match, and we’ve trained that way all week, so although we have freedom as players to make decisions on the field, we’ll certainly do so within our systems.”