RugbyPass July Player of the Month - Herschel Jantjies
As part of a new series, RugbyPass will be scouring the world for the most in-form players that the northern and southern hemispheres have to offer and picking a global player of the month. Each winner will receive a donation of $100 to the charity of their choosing, with their form on the field not only helping their club or country, but also a cause close to their heart.
With the northern hemisphere club competitions in their offseasons and Super Rugby having crowned its winner at the beginning of the month, July has been a period dominated by international rugby.
The Currie Cup and Mitre 10 Cup competitions have begun, but it has been international rugby where the focus has resided, most notably with the first two rounds of The Rugby Championship.
Both South Africa and New Zealand have emerged from those opening rounds undefeated with a number of players impressing, including Pieter-Steph du Toit and Jack Goodhue. For Argentina, Pablo Matera has also distinguished himself in recent weeks.
Those efforts noted, it is fresh-faced Springbok Herschel Jantjies who picks up the RugbyPass Player of the Month award for July, with the scrum-half having made a blistering start to his international career.
The 23-year-old grabbed a brace of tries in his impressive debut against Australia in Johannesburg, with the Stormers scrum-half not only catching the eye with his try-scoring antics, but also the tempo and precision of his play, both of which the Wallabies struggled to live with defensively.
A week later in Wellington, he came off the bench in a tight match and managed to score a try that allowed South Africa to level up the scores and escape their match against the All Blacks with a draw, something which their earlier profligacy had made look unlikely.
Thanks to the form of Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach in England with Sale Sharks and Northampton Saints respectively, and the recent rise of Jantjies, Rassie Erasmus suddenly has three very effective options at scrum-half for the Springboks’ upcoming Rugby World Cup campaign.
From darting forays around the fringes to swift and accurate distribution to his ball-carriers, Jantjies had his coming out party in July and announced himself as one of the more exciting attacking nines in the game.
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Latest Comments
Can we also show some love for Tane Edmed’s fantastic draw and pass? Put his body on the line and committed the defender before letting go of that pass. Flawless skill.
Go to commentsYou forget this is Rassie Erasmus who is still holding the Springbok keys. Even with Felix Jones orchestrating a really tight RWC SF last year. It still wasn't enough to get England past their particular Springbok Monkey in world cups. The reason is FJ was going off of what they did in 2019 not necessarily adapting to current Springboks. So yes, Australia can get passed England because let's be honest, England have a one track strategy, Springboks do not. Even with rush defense I wouldn't be surprised if Rassie continually tweaks it. Also bear in mind Rassie is happy to sacrifice a few mid year and inter World Cup matches to pin point how opposition plays and how to again tweak strategies to get his Springboks in peak performance for the next World Cup. As much as most teams like to win games in front of them and try to win everything, Rassie always makes sure to learn and train for the greatest showdown International Rugby has to offer. Tbh, most people remember World Cup wins and ignore intermediate losses as a result but will remember also WC losses, Ireland, even if they won games in the interim. So even if games are won against the Springboks, it's likely Rassie is just getting a feel for how opposition is moving and adapt accordingly…in time. For Rassie, a loss is never a loss because he uses it as a chance to learn and improve. Sometimes during a game, again like the England match in last year's Semi Final.
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