Why Grant Williams is just about a sure bet for Boks’ World Cup squad

It is a well-established fact that the Springboks have enormous depth in every position.

One position that’s a matter of interest is scrumhalf; in the 33-man squad that will be headed to defend the Webb Ellis Cup in France later this year, three places will go to the diminutive No 9s.

In the current squad, the Boks have five scrumhalves, namely Faf de Klerk, Cobus Reinach, Jaden Hendrickse, Herschel Jantjies, and Grant Williams. In the 2019 World Cup win in Japan, De Klerk was the first choice, with Jantjies on the bench and Reinach on the fringes.

Competition

Fast forward to now and Hendrikse (currently in rehab) and Williams have entered the picture, increasing the competition in the position.

The Rugby Championship, being the last phase of competition before the final squad is announced next month, is thus serving as an audition for the players, with Rassie Erasmus, the director of rugby, and Boks coach Jacques Nienaber being the judges.

In the 43-12 win over Australia in Pretoria last Saturday, it was Reinach who started the match, and in his audition, he was fairly neat and solid, but fell short in his kicking. Reinach was replaced by Williams in the second half, and the lad from Paarl put on an impressive display in his cameo.

Grant Williams

Williams caught the eye as he accelerated the pace of the match, distributed well and proved to be too fast for the bruised Wallabies pack. The Sharks man will have another audition for the Boks’ brains trust this weekend against the All Blacks, but this time he will deputise for De Klerk.

Selecting the three scrumhalves for the World Cup will be difficult for Erasmus and Nienaber, however, Williams should be a sure selection. The advantage that he has over the rest is that he can play as a winger, meaning from the bench he can cover the two positions, namely scrumhalf and outside back.

He would allow the Boks management to deploy their favoured six-two split instead of the five-three, knowing they have cover in the backline.

Like Franco Mostert (utility forward) and Damian Willemse (utility back), Williams will prove to be valuable because of his versatility from the bench.