Moodie magic bolsters Boks’ outside back stocks going into World Cup

A stunning man-of-the-match showing from Springbok wing Canan Moodie helped a largely fringe side clinch an impressive 24-13 win over Argentina in Buenos Aires over the weekend.

His performance highlighted the strength and depth the Boks have in their outside backs heading into the World Cup next month which bodes very well for the team.

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In the match Moodie was sublime in the first half, breaking the line almost at will while fending off defenders and putting the Boks into great positions that they were unfortunately unable to finish from.

In the second half he was again exceptional, collecting a brilliant cross kick from Manie Libbok to race away and score in the corner, while he continued with his high work rate throughout the match.

“It’s very special to come here and get a good win. The crowd was tough, but we knew that they would be,” said Moodie after his all-action showing.

“They (Argentina) are a strangling and suffocating team, and we knew we just had to stay in the fight. We knew (at some point) in the second half they would break, so we had to keep on working. Eventually the dam wall broke and we played out wide and scored.”

Final chance

The game was the final chance for a number of Bok players to impress the selectors and book their spot on the plane to France, which some of them managed to do with impressive shifts.

Utility forward Deon Fourie was immense, while Moodie’s wing partner Makazole Mapimpi was another player that had a question mark over him, but he put in a strong performance to show that he still has what it takes to perform at the highest level.

The players will now be waiting in anticipation to see if they made the final squad of 33-players who will attempt to defend the Boks title over September and October, with the squad being named on Tuesday.

“I am thankful and grateful for the opportunity to prove myself and to go out there and play to the best of my ability. For some of the guys, we wanted to prove that we could hopefully punch our ticket to France and be part of the squad by performing,” said Moodie.

“It’s going to be a big day for the guys (on Tuesday). We got our opportunity to prove ourselves and now whatever happens will happen. It will be a privilege for anyone to go to the World Cup and try and defend the title.”