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The 4 candidates ex-Boks expect to battle for South Africa No10 shirt
By Josh Raisey
While the battle for the South Africa No10 jersey has largely been between Handre Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in 2024, former Springboks Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers think the competition is far more than just a two-horse race.
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Pollard started in the most recent win over the All Blacks in Cape Town while Feinberg-Mngomezulu delivered a victory the week before in Johannesburg. Those two appear to be the frontrunners under Rassie Erasmus currently, but, speaking on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s The Boks Office, de Villiers threw another name into the ring.
The former centre thinks Stormers No10 Manie Libbok will “probably get a start against Argentina” in round five of the Rugby Championship, and Erasmus appears to agree.
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After selecting Libbok and resting Feinberg-Mngomezulu in South Africa’s 28-man squad to tour Argentina, the Springboks head coach effectively reinforced de Villiers’ prediction.
“Some players, such as Johan Grobbelaar, Manie Libbok, Jaden Hendrikse, and Canan Moodie – to name a few – will benefit immensely from more game time at this level,” he said.
But Burger went a step further, saying “we forget Damian Willemse at flyhalf,” who is currently sidelined with a finger injury but should be available for the end-of-year tour of the northern hemisphere.
Ultimately, it may come down to horses for courses for the world champions, which Burger described as a “privileged position”.
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“I think we’re in the privileged position to always have Handre in the mix if we feel like it,” he said.
“If we go to Perth and it’s wet and we need someone to control it through the boot – we saw it in the World Cup, in the England semi-final, Manie Libbok starts and he got ripped off after 20 minutes to play the conditions better through Handre.
“So it’s all part of what Rassie feels it has got to be. We used to call it AI, now it’s RI- Rassie Intelligence.
“Our semi-final, without Handre last year we wouldn’t have made it. I think we’re spoiled in that regard. And then you’ve got a guy like Manie.
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De Villiers added: “Damian at flyhalf against England in 2022, he was sublime. Dropkick, created the try for Kurt-Lee [Arendse] to score. He was amazing.”
What arrogance equating AI with RI with RI being Rassie Intelligence. These pundits perhaps need to avoid being so bullish about the Boks. They may be on a hot streak but as supporters perhaps be a little bit more humble
The flyhalf debate will only become really interesting when Manie and DW become consistent place-kickers.
Imagine a backline with 10 Manie, 12 Sacha and 15 DW...