Jean de Villiers: ‘Amazing story’ of shock Springboks call-up shows Rassie Erasmus’ ‘vision’

Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and former South Africa captain Jean de Villiers.

Springboks legend Jean de Villiers believes that the recent training squad announcement has displayed the “vision” of Rassie Erasmus and the coaching staff.

South Africa’s head coach named a group of 54 players for an alignment camp and it included the relative unknown – to those outside the country at least – Ntokozo Makhaza.

Makhaza has not yet played a fully-fledged professional game having been featuring in the Varsity Cup, winning the Varsity Cup Player of the Year award in consecutive seasons.

Joined the Cheetahs

He has signed for the Cheetahs, however, and could feature in the upcoming Currie Cup which starts in July.

It was a surprise selection from Erasmus but showed that he will pick from anywhere if he sees the potential in a player.

“What an amazing story and it shows the vision that is at least there from a coaching point of view with Rassie and all the way down,” De Villiers said on the Boks Office podcast.

“They’re saying: ‘This guy’s still a youngster but he’s got the ability to potentially play there.’ Some of the outside backs are getting on in age, yes they can still do a job now, but introduce him into that environment, see if it can rub off a little and, who knows, maybe in time he will be there.”

De Villiers did not think there were too many other shocks in the squad but he does believe that the hooker position could be up for grabs.

Malcolm Marx and Bongi Mbonambi have been the established players in that position for the past few years but, with both now the wrong side of 30, those spots could be up for grabs.

There is plenty of hooking talent available to Erasmus, so much so that the in-form Bulls starter Johan Grobbelaar missed out on the alignment camp, but the Springboks have not yet looked at life beyond Marx and Mbonambi.

Utility front-rower

That will surely have to happen soon, however, with Marnus van der Merwe and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who can play hooker and loosehead, the other options in the 54.

“Marnus van der Merwe is a good player. That’s one position where there might be some question marks. You’ve got Malcolm Marx, Bongi’s looked tired at times so there will be pressure on Bongi now,” De Villiers said.

“Jan-Hendrik Wessels has gone up a lot this season. I think he should have a go at hooker now.”

The case of Wessels is an interesting one given his ability to switch between prop and hooker, although he has established himself in the Bulls’ loosehead shirt over the past few weeks.

Schalk Burger, who joined De Villiers on the show, believes that his recent form has justified the trust Erasmus placed in him last year.

“We’ve come to learn that Rassie was onto something special with his current form for the Bulls, whether he plays at loosehead or at hooker,” the ex-Boks back-row said.