Springboks captain Siya Kolisi and fly-half Handre Pollard have both picked their most underrated team-mate from the double Rugby World Cup-winning squad.
The pair were involved in both of South Africa’s title-winning World Cup campaigns in 2019 and 2023.
Siya Kolisi’s most underrated Springbok
They also recently appeared on Jim Hamilton’s The Big Jim Show, where they were asked to pick out their most underrated Springbok and gave similar answers with, both highlighting Damian de Allende.
“Damian de Allende and Willie Le Roux,” Kolisi replied.
How many tries has he [Le Roux] generated for the team, do you know?
He consistently sees things long before they occur.
“When I offloaded to Malcolm [Marx] in my first game back following my knee injury against Wales, Willie was like, ‘Siya come here, they’re going to shoot on you, I’m going to give it to you, you are going to go through.'” The play developed precisely as he had predicted.
“He handed it to me, I passed through, the guys charged, and I handed it off to Malcolm in the corner.” As if he were insane.
And Kolisi said, “Oh, him and Damian.”
Handre Pollard’s most underrated Springbok
Hamilton posed the same question to Pollard, who agreed with Kolisi on De Allende.
“Yeah, it has got to be him. He gets a lot of criticism, but the thing is, we use him in a very specific way,” Pollard said.
People don’t often get to witness someone with his skill set. You may get an idea of his abilities by watching some of the games he plays in Japan.
He is only a workhorse, though. The problem is that he always steps up when things get tough; it’s not about the fancy stuff he does; it’s about the hard yards, and Damian de Allende needs to be on our team.
In June, South Africa will play their first test of 2024 at Twickenham Stadium against Wales. This will be followed by a two-match test series against Ireland and a single test against Portugal.
