Willemse to challenge Pollard to be Bok first-choice World Cup flyhalf

The meteoric rise of Damian Willemse in the Springbok setup continues to gain momentum after it was confirmed that he was now considered a flyhalf and would be going to next year’s World Cup in that position.

SA Rugby Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, explained during the Bok squad press announcement conference for their European end-of-year-tour on Friday morning, that he would continue to be backed in that position going forward.

This means he will likely be challenging regular first choice flyhalf Handre Pollard for the starting jersey next year, once Pollard has returned from injury.

It is an amazing turnaround in Willemse’s career, after he was considered a utility back, who had played for the Boks in bits and pieces since his debut in 2018.

Bok fullback, Stormers 12

At the start of this year’s international season he was finally given a proper run for the Boks, but was selected primarily as a fullback, while for the Stormers over the past URC season he played primarily at inside centre.

However over the Welsh incoming series and Rugby Championship campaign, Willemse had to fill in at flyhalf a number of times, until he fully took the reins after Pollard got injured and Elton Jantjies was sent home from Argentina.

Now it seems he will continue to feature there for the Boks for the foreseeable future despite the question marks that hang over his goal kicking abilities.

World Cup flyhalf

“A guy like Damian in our eyes now, is a flyhalf. We see him going to the World Cup as a flyhalf. I think people forget about that last kick he kicked over against Wales (first Test) to win that Test match,” said Erasmus.

“Goal kicking we are working on and there are a lot of guys who are kicking really well and we are working hard on that.”

Despite Johan Goosen being selected in the SA A squad instead of the Bok squad for the end-of-year-tour as had previously been expected, he is still set to be a big part of the Bok setup going forward, with him just needing to pick up some more game time.

“The three guys that we have used since 2018, Handre (Pollard), Elton (Jantjies) and Frans (Steyn) are unfortunately not available. But Damian has done a great job for us at flyhalf this year,” explained Bok coach Jacques Nienaber.

“Johan Goosen was the guy we earmarked in our discussions back in February. He was the guy we said would be our next flyhalf if we did pick up an injury. Fortunately he spent some time with us during our preparation camp before the Welsh series and before the Rugby Championship.

“So he’s been with us on the field and has a good idea of how we operate and do things. But unfortunately he has played just 160 minutes during the URC (since returning from injury). We would have liked him to get more minutes but unfortunately it didn’t go that way.”

Due to Goosen missing out, Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok has finally seen the Bok door opened for him and Nienaber is looking forward to what a matured Libbok can now produce on the international stage after previously having worked with him before.

“With Manie, myself and Stokke (Bok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick) have been coaching him since 2016, I coached him at SA Schools, when he and Damian Willemse were together,” said Nienaber.

“Manie was back then where Sacha (Mngomezulu) is now. He was the next prodigy coming through. He went to the Bulls, was then signed by the Sharks and eventually got to the Stormers. So the mental growth that he had to go through has been great.”