Nienaber’s options for outside centre
LUKHANYO Am’s knee injury will keep him out until February at least, but the Springbok management are not worried about the depth at outside centre.
Jesse Kriel is the man likely to be entrusted with the No 13 jersey in next Saturday’s opening Test against Ireland in Dublin (7.30pm SA time kick-off), having been the back-up to Am since the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
The 28-year-old Kriel – who has 56 Test caps – has shown his ability in glimpses, but needs to put a full 80 minutes together to reach a point when he can challenge Am to be the Boks’ first choice.
But the immediate task is the four Tests against Ireland, France, Italy and England, and despite there being no recognised back-up No 13 to Kriel in the 35-man squad announced on Friday, Bok bosses Jacques Nienaber and Rassie Erasmus feel they have enough options.
Damian de Allende and Andre Esterhuizen are primarily inside centres, while Suleiman Hartzenberg and Henco van Wyk were picked in the SA ‘A’ squad that will face Munster and Bristol on tour.
“Jesse is standing up for us there, and the nice thing for us is the amount of utility backs we have in our squad. One can always move Damian de Allende there. He has played there for us in the World Cup, and numerous times when we made substitutions this year, we moved him out,” Nienaber said.
Erasmus went into detail: “I think the question there is … like we have five scrum-halves now. Three years ago, we only had one scrum-half in Faf (de Klerk). And the world was saying ‘Where are you going to find a scrumhalf?’ – Ivan (van Zyl) was playing and Embrose (Papier) has played for us.
“Now we have five guys here who are already capped Springboks. The moment Lukhanyo is ready and Jesse covers for him … Suleiman Hartzenberg has played 12-13 – he is a young, exciting guy coming through.
“Damian (de Allende) hasn’t started (often at outside centre), but during games when we used the six-two split, Damian has played more than 50 minutes at 13 centre for us.
“If a guy like Handre Pollard is fit, Damian Willemse can move to 13 if Handre starts again (at flyhalf).
“If we get another injury, then yes, we have to throw in a youngster there. But that’s what happened to Herschel Jantjies, and we won a World Cup with him.
“Sometimes you have three in a position, two in a position, everybody says you’re thin … If you look at the flyhalf position now, we’re not thin – we’re not thin at all.
“There are three guys who played flyhalf who are not available, and still we’ve got five who can play for us here – including Cheslin (Kolbe), who can back up for you.
“So, it looks thin (at outside centre), but if you know where you can shift guys around and get a guy to 13 … And then there’s a guy like Suleiman, who has played brilliantly at 13 and 12.”