Damian Willemse, who will start in the No 12 jersey for South Africa the first time, admitted that while switching to inside centre this week against the All Blacks in Wellington was a different challenge for him, he was excited to be in the new-look backline selected by Bok coach Rassie Erasmus.
Willemse will join forces with Canan Moodie in a hard-running midfield combination, pairing with Cheslin Kolbe, Ethan Hooker, and Aphelele Fassi in the back three, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Cobus Reinach at halfback.
“I played inside centre a few years ago, and I’ve played in the position as a replacement for the Boks, so there are aspects that are new for me, but I’m excited about the opportunity to link up with Sacha and the other backline players.”
“I think this is the first match that I will be playing with Sacha at flyhalf, but we’ve been working hard this week to align on how we play, and also with the other players from an attack and defence point of view, so we are ready for whatever the All Blacks throw at us.”
Willemse said the All Blacks will be equally psyched up after last week’s result, and to make up for suffering four defeats in a row against the Boks before that match.
“We are expecting another physical game, which is what they always deliver. There are close margins in Test rugby, and last week we had an opportunity to secure a draw, but we were unable to do so. So, we know this is going to be another epic encounter.”
“Obviously, we can’t change what happened last week, but we had a thorough review of the match, and we’ve put it behind us. Our focus is now squarely on Saturday’s match-up, and hopefully we can play well and get the desired result. It’s going to be a physical and hard match, but for us it’s all about nailing our roles on the field.”
“For us, we’re focused on going out there on Saturday and making sure we can play positively and get the victory. We’ve got to make sure we’re clinical. Not like last week where we had about 10 entries into the All Black 22 and didn’t capitalise on many of them, so that’s been a large part of our focus this week.”
“Expressing yourself isn’t always playing flashy rugby. For us, it’s about nailing our roles, and if an opportunity presents itself, we take it. That’s expressing ourselves.”