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Jean de Villiers' brave verdict on future Springbok captain
By Jon Newcombe
Having led South Africa to two Rugby World Cups, Siya Kolisi’s place as a Springbok legend is assured.
However, the 33-year-old’s international career is now on the countdown and like many of his generation, the next tournament in Australia will be a step too far.
While Springbok DoR Rassie Erasmus has been unusually coy about who might take on the armband once Kolisi does decide to call it a day, plenty of others – including Springbok legend Jean de Villiers – haven’t been slow in sharing their views.
Talking on this week’s episode of Boks Office, the former centre believes the answer lies in an unusual position – fly-half.
Ever since the game went professional following the first of South Africa’s four Rugby World Cup wins nearly three decades ago, 26 different players have worn the No.10 jersey.
But only once in all that time has a fly-half been appointed captain – Handrè Pollard against Wales in June 2022, and that did not end well, with the Springboks beaten 13-12 in Bloemfontein.
De Villiers has every faith that Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, the man groomed to be Pollard’s successor at 10, has the ability and the right profile to end that anomaly.
“I’ve come to the realisation that Sacha is very much a potential next captain for South Africa - if you think age-wise, if you think his pedigree in terms of leadership – he captained the under-20s," he said.
“That is a big question for me, who will be the next captain. We have got a lot of guys that do the job but they are very much in the same age group as Siya. And obviously Salmaan (Moerat) is being kept out, so it’ll be interesting to see what develops there.
While 10s have been conspicuous by their absence as the named Springbok captain, fellow Boks Office pundit Schalk Burger points out that they are de facto leaders anyway.
“If you’re a 10, you’re a game-manager anyway. You are part of the leadership core group because you touch the ball so many times. So much of what you see is important, what you want to do, the way you see the game has got to be played,” the former flanker said.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu is only eight games into his Test career and is only 22 years of age, so the question is if not now, when?
“Whether the captaincy will roll to him now, I don’t think so. But potentially (in the future), yes,” added Burger.
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