Northern Edition
Select Edition
Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

The 4 candidates ex-Boks expect to battle for South Africa No10 shirt

Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu of the Springboks during the Castle Lager Rugby Championship match between South Africa and New Zealand at Emirates Airline Park on August 31, 2024 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

While the battle for the South Africa No10 jersey has largely been between Handre Pollard and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in 2024, former Springboks Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers think the competition is far more than just a two-horse race.

ADVERTISEMENT

Pollard started in the most recent win over the All Blacks in Cape Town while Feinberg-Mngomezulu delivered a victory the week before in Johannesburg. Those two appear to be the frontrunners under Rassie Erasmus currently, but, speaking on the latest episode of RugbyPass TV’s The Boks Office, de Villiers threw another name into the ring.

The former centre thinks Stormers No10 Manie Libbok will “probably get a start against Argentina” in round five of the Rugby Championship, and Erasmus appears to agree.

Video Spacer

Who is actually the first choice Bok flyhalf? | RPTV

Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
 
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
      Video Spacer

      Who is actually the first choice Bok flyhalf? | RPTV

      The Boks Office crew and Tim from Eggchasers discuss the weekend’s Test between the Springboks and the All Blacks. Watch the full show on RugbyPass TV.

      Watch now

      After selecting Libbok and resting Feinberg-Mngomezulu in South Africa’s 28-man squad to tour Argentina, the Springboks head coach effectively reinforced de Villiers’ prediction.

      “Some players, such as Johan Grobbelaar, Manie Libbok, Jaden Hendrikse, and Canan Moodie – to name a few – will benefit immensely from more game time at this level,” he said.

      Fixture
      Rugby Championship
      Argentina
      29 - 28
      Full-time
      South Africa
      All Stats and Data

      But Burger went a step further, saying “we forget Damian Willemse at flyhalf,” who is currently sidelined with a finger injury but should be available for the end-of-year tour of the northern hemisphere.

      Ultimately, it may come down to horses for courses for the world champions, which Burger described as a “privileged position”.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      “I think we’re in the privileged position to always have Handre in the mix if we feel like it,” he said.

      “If we go to Perth and it’s wet and we need someone to control it through the boot – we saw it in the World Cup, in the England semi-final, Manie Libbok starts and he got ripped off after 20 minutes to play the conditions better through Handre.

      “So it’s all part of what Rassie feels it has got to be. We used to call it AI, now it’s RI- Rassie Intelligence.

      “Our semi-final, without Handre last year we wouldn’t have made it. I think we’re spoiled in that regard. And then you’ve got a guy like Manie.

      ADVERTISEMENT

      De Villiers added: “Damian at flyhalf against England in 2022, he was sublime. Dropkick, created the try for Kurt-Lee [Arendse] to score. He was amazing.”

      Related

      ADVERTISEMENT
      Play Video

      South Africa vs Black Ferns XV | Women's International | Full Match Replay

      Play Video

      Namibia vs United Arab Emirates | Asia/Africa Rugby World Cup Play-off | Full Match Replay

      Play Video

      Lions Share | Episode 5

      Play Video

      Classic Wallabies vs British & Irish Legends | First Match | Full Match Replay

      Play Video

      Did the Lions loosies get away with murder? And revisiting the Springboks lift | Whistle Watch

      Play Video

      The First Test, Visiting The Great Barrier Reef & Poetry with Pierre | Ep 6: The Ultimate Test

      Play Video

      KOKO Show | July 22nd | Full Throttle with Brisbane Test Review and Melbourne Preview

      Play Video

      New Zealand v South Africa | World Rugby U20 Championship | Extended Highlights

      Trending on RugbyPass

      Comments

      2 Comments
      S
      SK 321 days ago

      What arrogance equating AI with RI with RI being Rassie Intelligence. These pundits perhaps need to avoid being so bullish about the Boks. They may be on a hot streak but as supporters perhaps be a little bit more humble

      R
      Rocco 322 days ago

      The flyhalf debate will only become really interesting when Manie and DW become consistent place-kickers.


      Imagine a backline with 10 Manie, 12 Sacha and 15 DW...

      Join free and tell us what you really think!

      Sign up for free
      ADVERTISEMENT

      Latest Long Reads

      Comments on RugbyPass

      J
      JW 8 minutes ago
      Andy Goode: Aussie comments didn't cover them in glory

      Yes I was happy with the refs ruling of arrival (and that the tackled player wasn’t obligated to release the ball immediately) but if you see the wide angle you can note how Morgan dives to get there in time.


      I don’t mind your (or the refs) view, but what Morgan said is accurate. Both Mils and Beaver agreed on the breakdown, and you will also get the same view from Aotearoa Rugby Pod guys for a pretty unanimous NZ view.

      Sometimes when both players are low its a rugby collision and this is one of those times.

      Not recently. In the SR finals and AB v Arg series weve seen players clearly bent 90 at the waist still be penalised, only when the attacker does something the ref sees immediate mitigation and rules a rugby incident. Tizzano didn’t offer that he was always in the position Morgan aimed to collect him in.


      Happy to not throw the rule book at these situations but the precent is that they are in these situations.

      many tries out wide the player is allowed to be tackled while diving

      They are diving for the line, not to avoid being tackled.

      “In principle, in a try scoring situation, if the action is deemed to be a dive forward for a try, then it should be permitted. If a player is deemed to have left the ground to avoid a tackle; or to jump, or hurdle a potential tackler, then this is dangerous play and should be sanctioned accordingly.”

      You can read Nicks article for an updated discourse on this though.

      30 Go to comments
      J
      JW 46 minutes ago
      New Zealanders may not understand, but in France Test rugby is the 'B movie'

      But he was wrong, he had to take back what he said. But maybe this only happened because he came out and was honest with his initial plans?


      He’s simply in a position where he should be far more professional.


      I don’t really follow much media, especially SM, but again, I’ve not seen anyone complaining. Plenty of ridicule and pointing out things like it being disrespectful to the game, but as far as the English language goes, that’s not complaining. Nick Bishop for instance hasn’t been complaining, he’s simply saying Galthie made a bad decision for France’s prospects (which when the common reply is ‘thats how it is’).


      Complaining would be views expressing that the FFR should have put the tour back a week so that all T14 finalists could attend. Complaining would be saying they’ve been robbed of seeing the worlds best stars. Complaining would be saying players can simply take extra weeks off from T14. I’ve only seen advice and suggestions that these are things France need to look-at-for-the-future.


      Basically I tried to communicate with French fans because they don’t understand what’s being communicated. ALL reactions I have seen shared here by French supports have all seemed way over the top compared what I’ve seen expressed about this tour.

      the players are expected to play in too many matches, for too many minutes, and need more rest and recovery time.

      This is the message I have been sharing. So something needs to happen, whether thats France pull out of more Internationals or rest players from more domestic games, who knows, but I also don’t think what they have now is working. It’s obviously much better than 3-4 years ago, but they appear to want to work even harder at it like you say. Personally I’ve only seen LNR be reasonable, I hear much less of their other internationals being denied/influenced not to play, so I imagine that they will give even further (as I can’t really see France pulling out the other international windows as well).

      147 Go to comments
      LONG READ
      LONG READ ‘There are coaches who make you believe in yourself more than ever. Steve is one of those’ ‘There are coaches who make you believe in yourself more than ever. Steve is one of those’