Talented De Allende seeks lost form
Injury-hit stint in Japan hurt his Bok career
A YEAR ago‚ centre Damian de Allende was considered one of the best players in the Springbok team, but 12 months on, his Test career appears to be at a crucial intersection.
Springbok coach Allister Coetzee has cut De Allende from the Bok squad. Instead of facing the Wallabies at Loftus in a Rugby Championship match on Saturday‚ he will be playing for Western Province against Boland in the Currie Cup on Friday.
In 2015‚ De Allende could do little wrong as he cut through defences with impressive ease at Super Rugby and Test level. He was narrowly pipped in the voting for 2015 SA Player of the Year‚ which went to lock Lood de Jager. Now, he is surplus to requirements in a Bok midfield that has misfired all year.
It has been a rapid descent compared to the speed with which he rose up South African rugby’s escalator. His form has been poor this season and it is not surprising that Coetzee has cut him loose.
But how is it possible that such a good player‚ whose class was obvious at the highest level in 2015‚ could have gone backwards so quickly?
A big part of the problem is NEW Zealand rugby officials on Tuesday terminated the contract of a teenage star who viciously assaulted four people including two women, following a public outcry after he escaped conviction.
After initially supporting winger Losi Filipo, rugby lack of fitness because of injuries and an erosion of confidence. De Allende simply did not have an off-season following his manic 2015 playing schedule because he chose to take up a short-term contract in Japan immediately following the World Cup.
Physically, he does not look to be in the same peak shape he was in at the World Cup. Proving this is near-impossible as players’ physical data is not released to the media. But to the naked eye he appears a little heavier and a little slower than 12 months ago.
Usually, defence gives a good indication of fitness as it shows how hard players are working without the ball. And the stats are telling.
In the 2015 Rugby Championship, De Allende played 240 minutes compared to the 182 he has played in 2016. Yet the difference in the number of tackles he made in 2015 compared to 2016 is staggering.
In the 2015 tournament, he made 29 tackles and in 2016, he made only five. He was ranked seventh in terms of tackles made in 2015 and 33rd this season. Another telling stat is that in the 2015 Rugby Championship he affected four turnovers and in 2016 he made none. Statistics are not the only measurement but the evidence does point towards someone generally off the pace.
Financially and in terms of personal growth, the Japan sojourn made sense in the short term‚ but from a career perspective, the decision has hurt him as he suffered a serious ankle injury.
De Allende told the Stormers magazine about the setback: “I took a short ball off nine‚ and the opposition scrumhalf tackled my legs. [The scrumhalf] fell on my right ankle and my lateral ligament snapped. I was flown back to SA for an operation.
“I basically had to strengthen my leg again‚ because when you have an injury like that, you lose a lot of muscle around your calf‚ hamstrings‚ and quad. You don’t want to run straight away because you’ll be imbalanced‚ so it’s quite a long process.”
It is debatable whether he has made a full recovery from the injury‚ especially in terms of the damage it must have done to his confidence. Coupled with seismic changes in the Bok camp‚ which involved a new defence coach‚ a new flyhalf and a new centre partner‚ and it is obvious De Allende has struggled with the transition.
The Currie Cup might just be the level he needs to regain fitness and confidence. He is too talented and too young to be thrown on the Test scrapheap. TMG Digital