Willemse sparkles for Boks in All Blacks drubbing: Now, who will start against Scotland?

Springbok utility back Damian Willemse showed how much depth the team have in their back three as his sparkling performance from fullback earned him the man-of-the-match award in their record 35-7 win over the All Blacks at Twickenham on Friday night.

Willemse became the fourth Bok outside back to pick up the man-of-the-match award so far this season, with someone from the back three claiming the award in every single win for the team this year.

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Wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, who scored an intercept try on the night, won the award in their big win over the Wallabies at Loftus, Cheslin Kolbe picked it up after the tight win over Argentina at Ellis Park, while Canan Moodie claimed back to back awards against Argentina (in Buenos Aires) and Wales.

Although Makazole Mapimpi and Willie le Roux have not yet picked up the award this season, they have also impressed in all their showings so far as well. It means coach Jacques Nienaber has a very tough task deciding who to pick at fullback and on the wings for the World Cup opener against Scotland on September 10.

Incredible depth

This incredible depth that the Boks have in their back three will likely be a major weapon for them in France, but the platform at Twickenham on Friday night was undeniably laid by a monstrous forward effort.

“I think the forwards gave the backline a very good foundation to play off and now I am the recipient of the man-of-the-match award. But credit to the forwards, they put in a hell of a shift tonight,” admitted Willemse after the match.

“We have got great outside backs. We have always said that whoever plays we are going to back each other and we are going to play to what we see. So credit to the boys, we are giving each other a lot of confidence.”

‘Hard work paying off’

Willemse added the Boks would continue to work hard ahead of the start of the World Cup, in two weeks’ time.

“It was a great performance from us. I would call it a team win and we had a great week of preparation. Obviously the result (against the All Blacks, in the Rugby Championship) in Auckland hurt us a bit. So we got a lot of good lessons out of that game,” said Willemse.

“We thought we should have been ahead by more (at halftime on Friday night). But credit to the All Blacks. They stuck in there, they have a good defence and they are a great team. So we just stuck with what we wanted to do, kept our composure and things worked out.

“We are training hard in the week, playing hard and that is paying off on the field. So we just need to keep on working. We are still far away from where we want to be, but we have built up some good momentum and did some good stuff tonight, so happy with that and we will take that going forward.”