Damian Willemse. (Photo by Andrew Matthews/PA Images via Getty Images)
- Damian Willemse sees the Boks’ attacking power coming together on the eve of their Rugby World Cup title defence.
- The fly half starred in SA’s end-of-year tour-closing victory over England 27-13, where the Boks showed their attacking hand.
- Bok fans have been clamoring for coach Jacques Nienaber to unshackle his X-factor players.
One of the stars of the Springboks’ end-of-year European tour, Damian Willemse, believes the team’s attacking powerhouse will come together on the eve of their 2023 Rugby World Cup title defense.
It bodes direly for South Africa’s opponents, who are used to the Boks ramping up their single-court mentality – kick chasing, physical dominance and set pieces.
However, with the addition of Willemse at fly half and Kurt-Lee Arendse’s stellar introduction to international rugby, South Africa have evolved their game to include devastating finishing abilities.
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“It’s something we’ve been working on since the July series against Wales,” Willemse said after their remarkable 27-13 win over England at Twickenham last Saturday.
“It’s been a building block, and now it’s coming together very well for us. Now going into the World Cup year, I think we need to look back and see where we can improve on that as well.”
Bok fans have been clamoring for the shackles to be removed from X-factor players like Willemse, Arendse, Cheslin Kolbe, Canan Moodie and reinvigorated veteran Willie le Roux.
Signs that there was something more to the team came with the All Blacks’ 26-10 defeat at Mbombela, which they failed to consolidate a week later at Ellis Park.
And despite a shaky start to their Northern Hemisphere tour in November, losing 19-16 to Ireland in Dublin, the Boks redeemed their pride in a gutsy 30-26 defeat to France after receiving an early red card from Pieter- Steph duToit.
By pushing next year’s World Cup hosts and in-form side so close with 14 men, he gave Jacques Nienaber’s side the kind of belief money can’t buy.
Italy took the brunt of that confidence boost (a 63-21 thrashing in Genoa) before sheer rugby opportunism did the job against England at Twickenham, again red carded a quarter behind.
“Starting in Dublin, we were a bit guilty of not taking our chances in the first game. [against Ireland]Willemse said.
“Myself, I didn’t think I contributed as much as I could have. But I think it was just building on that.”
“In Marseille, we did better in terms of taking those opportunities and we counterattacked with 13 men, which we were very proud of.
“In Italy, we had gained a lot of confidence from what we’ve been doing on tour so far and we played very well.
“Coming to England last week, we wanted to put everything on the table in our last [international] game of the season and try to finish it off”.
