Munster’s bruising Bok Allende has the class and pedigree to spark revival

Reds’ giant Bok is a proven winner

DAMIAN DE ALLENDE is arguably Munster’s biggest signing since his fellow Springbok Jean de Villers over 10 years ago.

Like De Allende, De Villiers arrived at Thomond Park as a world champion having played a pivotal role in South Africa’s surge to World Cup glory in 2007. He would sign a one-year deal in 2009 to great fanfare. Munster fans were excited about one of the world’s premier centres wearing red and what he could bring to a province still reeling from that hammering at the hands of Leinster in that famous Heineken Cup semi-final in Croke Park. The prospect of De Villers linking up with Lifeimi Mafi in midfield was an explosive proposition, but he never lived up to his billing and was on a plane back to his native land the following summer. De Villiers retired in 2015 to great acclaim after a stellar career where he won a World Cup, a Lions series and 109-caps. But Munster never saw the best of him. In the pantheon of great midfield imports such as Rhys Ellison, Trevor Halstead and Rua Tipoki, De Villiers would not feature. The hope among the Munster faithful is they will see the best of De Allende. Born and raised in Cape Town, the 28-year-old centre has completed his 14 days of self isolation in Limerick following a short stint in Japan with the Panasonic Wild Knights. Munster confirmed earlier this week that De Allende is recovering from a ‘short-term’ injury but, all going well, he and his fellow Springbok arrival RG Snyman are set to be unleashed on Leinster in that interprovincial opener at the Aviva Stadium on August 22. And Johann van Graan has landed a player at the peak of his powers. De Allende was quite simply a force of nature at the World Cup. Rassie Erasmus installed a simple, effective gameplan in Japan and De Allende was central to it.

Standing at 6ft2 and tipping the scales at just under 16 stone, he was a handful for the opposition, in defence and attack. Not that De Allende is your standard, gainline busting Bok bruiser — far from it.

There is subtlety and natural skill to complement the raw power. Here’s a quote from his former Stormers and Springbok teammate Bryan Habana recently: ‘Damian De Allende was one of my unsung heroes of Rugby World Cup 2019.

‘His ability to not only dominate the collision on attack and defence, but his passing — he’s probably one of the best passers I’ve ever seen in the game off both left and right.’

His stats at the World Cup were off the charts. Following brilliant performances against Japan and Wales — where he scored the matchclinching try — in the knockout stages, De Allende was very much a marked man in the final against England in Tokyo. Eddie Jones knew all about his threats.

This was, after all, a centre who had won more turnovers than Tom Curry and Sam Underhill, England’s ‘kamikaze kids’, made more metres than Billy Vunipola and more offloads than Manu Tuilagi.

Despite the extra attention, De Allende was at his quietly effective best as South Africa romped to their third World Cup title.

Munster have unquestionably snared one of the best centres in the world. What’s even more astonishing is that De Allende was not assured of his place at that World Cup while he has been a polarising figure among Springbok fans for years.

A self-professed ‘class clown’ in school, he was a late bloomer on the Cape Town rugby circuit. A die-hard Liverpool fan, football was his first love but he took up the oval game at Minerton High School. He played little to no representative rugby at underage level but his raw talent was identified by Western Province and he quickly moved up to the ranks before progressing in Super Rugby with the Stormers.

He would go on to be breakout star at the 2015 World Cup under Heyneke Meyer’s watch, usurping De Villiers as the first-choice inside centre, winning many admirers before South Africa were dumped out at the semi-final stage by the All Blacks.

The issue of race is never far from the surface in a country like South Africa and De Allende was caught up in a fiasco prior to the tournament. Having been classified as one of the nine black players in the 31man World Cup squad, De Allende’s father, Tony, told a newspaper that the family had Spanish ancestry but were in fact white.

The affair didn’t affect him on the pitch. However, De Allende would be plagued by form and injury issues in the following seasons.

He copped plenty of flak on social media for being ‘one-dimensional’. His application in games was regularly questioned. Something of a poster boy in South Africa, his detractors saw his appearances on the cover of GQ and Men’s Health as another reason to question his dedication to the day job.

All that changed when Erasmus arrived back in South Africa in 2017 to run the show. He took De Allende under his wing and helped him discover the ‘dog’ in him again.

‘If he can find himself again, he will find that X-factor that can make him one of the best inside centres in world rugby,’ Erasmus said at the time.

Suffice to say, De Allende repaid his coach’s faith in spades. Munster fans will be hoping he can do the same in this part of the world.

At 6ft2 and 16st, he’s a handful for any opposition