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'I don't see that happening' - Jean de Villiers picks his Springboks midfield to face the Lions

(Photo by Getty Images)

South African great Jean de Villiers has picked Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am as his starting Springboks centres to take on the British and Irish Lions later this year, saying the combination “has really worked for the Boks”. The former inside centre, who started in the No12 shirt against the Lions in the victorious first and second Tests in 2009, joined Christina Mahon, Jamie Roberts and Ryan Wilson on the latest RugbyPass Offload to discuss the upcoming series.

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He singled out de Allende as a Springboks player who will play an important role at inside centre having spent the last year playing for Munster. De Villiers also made the same move to the Irish province during his career, albeit after the 2009 Lions tour, so he will know the advantages that come with playing alongside and against future Test level opponents on a regular basis.

“I don’t see a lot of change in terms of the starting line-up that played in the World Cup final, to be honest,” said the 109-cap former Springboks midfielder.

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“Being a midfielder myself, Damian de Allende, the way he played recently against Leinster and the performance that he put in, (with) his experience now of playing against a lot of the guys that will be in the Lions squad he has got a massive role to play. Handre Pollard probably will be playing next to him at No10, but he will need to take on a much more senior role so that will be key for us.”

Roberts quizzed the South African on the chances of the recently suspended Harlequins midfielder Andre Esterhuizen starting alongside de Allende after a season in the Gallagher Premiership where he has been used to devastating effect. “I don’t see that happening,” de Villiers replied.

“Jamie, if you take the success of yourself and Brian O’Driscoll in ’09, having the bigger player that can get massive momentum like yourself and then a bit more, well actually a lot more, speed and flair in the No13 channel really worked.

“The combination of Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am has really worked for the Boks, so I can’t see them playing (de Allende and Esterhuizen) together, it will be a like-for-like swap. So if de Allende cannot make it then Esterhuizen definitely comes in because he has been very impressive at Quins.”

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JW 32 minutes ago
Scott Robertson explains the new halves pairing for the All Blacks ahead of France

More indecision and excuses from Razor.


You've given a spot at 6 to Finau whom you haven't even had the courage to use off the bench in the last two games. Now the young enforcer is going into a big much with no rugby, we should expect a similar result to how Aumua struggled to impact a game after he'd hardly been given any chances of the bench either.


Weve now dropped a back three player who also wasn't even given any game time off the bench for someone coming in cold when they really need to have been playing constantly to perform at their best. There are just so many better pictures that should have been present rather than this mickey mouse selection.


I really hope Finau can overcome this, it won't be the first time he's had to. How is the bench even made up? Could you not just have included these changes in the article as well? I actually like BB coming back in, it highlights how courageous he is after sitting out through another concussion that could just as easily sent him back into months of symptoms again.


Dmac was also off his game last week, as was Ratima, with the poor platform Razor and his team have been setting the players up with. He needs to freedom to clear his mind from the clutter that saw him make so many bad decisions last week. It will still probably be a net loss for the team performance not having him on from the start but it should be better for them in the long run if he's allowed to just come on late and play his game trying to claw things back for the team.


With Roigard starting that might prove an outlet for the team to actually get on top first however. Along with Ardie busting a gut in his new role and emptying the tank by halftime, and being replaced by another new star, might mean that Dmac is just icing on the cake at the end.

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Flankly 58 minutes ago
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I am not an England fan, but still very disappointed at what Borthwick is serving up. Regardless of winning or losing, they should be executing the basics at a world class level. That was the reason they replaced Eddie with Steve. After two years England has not built the solid foundations that the RFU were presumably after. Its hard to see it as anything other than a coaching problem.


Having said that I really hope that Rassie has got his team fired up for the game. The Boks at maximum intensity and with no crises (eg red cards) would be expected to win this game. But it does not take much reduction in pressure for Bok teams to lose. The Boks lose when complacency sets in.


On Felix Jones, my guess is that they can't agree on a non-compete so they kept him on payroll for the duration of the Nov tests. The risk was that he would be hired by Rassie or Razor prior to the tests.


As relates to law tweaking, it feels like WR are more comfortable discussing changes in laws than insisting on implementation. For my money the biggest thing they could do is to be strict and consistent in officiating ruck behavior. In every game we see flopping, lazy lying, clearing of unbound players, making plays while off your feet, delays in placing the ball, side entry, offside line infringements, and similar nonsense. It's really really bad, and the WR attitude seems to be that we should turn a blind eye in pursuit of "flowing rugby". In truth it's just boring, because it randomizes the outcome.

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