Jake White’s brutal verdict on ‘disappointing’ Canan Moodie but ‘real deal’ Springboks rookie hailed

Former Springboks boss Jake White has criticised Canan Moodie’s recent displays ahead of this weekend’s clash against the All Blacks.

The 22-year-old has been handed an opportunity in the 13 jersey on Saturday after playing the last two Rugby Championship matches on the wing.

But White, who coached Moodie at the Bulls, has not been impressed by the youngster’s performances during the 2025 Test season.

“Then there’s Canan (Moodie). He has the talent to play anywhere in the Boks backline, but in the past few games he hasn’t shown that quality and in truth, he’s been disappointing,” he wrote in his RugbyPass column.

“He hasn’t carried that initial wow factor and kicked on. I think it was the first Test he’d lost, in his 13th appearance, so he’s been fortunate as a Test player so far. He’s still young, however.

“Moving to midfield, to select a combination that has never played together before, let alone trained together is bold in the extreme. Remember, this is going up against an All Blacks team who scored three tries and went really well against a tried and tested midfield combo like De Allende and Kriel.”

White-Moodie buffet controversy

It is not the first time time White has seemingly thrown shade on the talented back as last season, while Bulls boss, he suggested Moodie should “stay away from the buffet”, although the 61-year-old later claimed it was not meant to be a criticism.

This time, however, the 2007 Rugby World Cup winner has not held back and he has other concerns about this weekend’s encounter with the All Blacks.

Rassie Erasmus has effectively picked a completely new backline for the match in Wellington with six changes – five personnel and one positional – behind the scrum.

“Let’s take Ethan Hooker. He has talent. He’s quick and he has all the skills, but Rassie hasn’t surrounded him with experience and that worries me,” White wrote.

“I know he’s got (Aphelele) Fassi and (Cheslin) Kolbe for company, but it’s not the same as having Jesse Kriel inside him to cover the defensive channel or having all of Willie le Roux’s rugby IP to guide him through a testing 80 minutes. It’s sink or swim and I wish him well.”

White also has reservations about the front-row, which has seen some big names either depart or drift down the pecking order, but on a positive note he very much rates one of the players he coached at the Bulls.

“Even up front, those bedrocks of South African scrummaging power, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, Francois Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi, are a distant memory, but I have high hopes for Jan Hendrik-Wessels,” he wrote.

“He is the real deal. He’s John Smit, Bismarck du Plessis and Malcolm Marx rolled into one. The epitome of the type of forward South Africa are trying to produce and their direction of travel.”

Springboks’ rapid backline

White states that “Rassie won’t die wondering”, though, and insists the speed of the backline could cause the All Blacks some real problems, but only if it stays dry.

“If that backline ran a 100m race against any of its rivals, it would probably be collectively the quickest backline they could select,” he added.

“They are seriously rapid – and I include Grant Williams in that. Hooker would be quicker than most wings, Moodie would be quicker than most centres, Willemse would beat Kriel and De Allende and Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) would be quicker than Handre Pollard and Manie Libbok.

“If there’s a linebreak and space, they will eat defenders alive but it the weather’s poor, and it turns into a dogfight is things could go south pretty quickly because they’re match-winners, not playmakers. They prefer being put into space rather than putting others into space.”