Cape Town – So hyped up was Faf de Klerk that he was facing the All Blacks in his home town of Mbombela, that he thought he could tackle every Kiwi who had the ball.
The Springbok scrumhalf raced forward in the opening stages of the match to stop prop Angus Ta’avao, and then hurtled across to bring down giant wing Caleb Clarke.
Unfortunately for the 30-year-old, he slipped just before getting to the All Black No 11 and his head made hard contact with Clarke’s knee.
After several nervy minutes of treatment, De Klerk was taken off the pitch on a stretcher, but later emerged walking on the sidelines and smiling to the crowd, who gave him a massive cheer.
It was a real pity for him personally to have been injured, as he would’ve been eager – perhaps too eager – to produce a top-class display at his old home ground.
But more importantly, he has come under pressure from youngster Jaden Hendrikse for the No 9 jersey this year. De Klerk was well short of his best in the opening Wales Test at Loftus Versfeld, and Hendrikse delivered such an assured performance in the Bloemfontein defeat that he was retained for the Cape Town Stadium decider.
It was a bit of a surprise that De Klerk was recalled to the starting line-up for the All Blacks opener in Mbombela, arguably because of his experience and due to playing in his home town.
But he had to sit out the Ellis Park Test due to concussion, and having passed the necessary concussion protocols, he is back at No 9 for Saturday’s Adelaide Oval encounter against the Wallabies (7.30am SA time kick-off).
Will we see the usual jack-in-the-box De Klerk, though? That will be crucial to the Boks’ chances of ending their nine-year itch in Australia. The first major part of his game that he needs to get spot-on is his box-kicks.
As much as we all moan about their persistence with the kicking game, South Africa are not going to move too much away from their template. Hendrikse got good ‘hang-time’ on his aerial bombs, which allowed Makazole Mapimpi and Kurt-Lee Arendse to contest the ball in the air and disrupt the All Blacks in Mbombela.
De Klerk has improved significantly with the boot from his days as a running scrumhalf for the Lions, but sometimes his kicks go too far, or don’t have enough height to make the defending team’s life difficult.
The Wallabies battled in that regard in their 48-17 loss to Argentina two weeks ago, and have made the necessary changes, with the solid Reece Hodge – who also possesses a cannon-like boot – now at fullback, with Tom Wright shifting to right wing.
The ever-dangerous Marika Koroibete is lurking at left wing, and while he isn’t always comfortable having to turn around to field kicks, he will be lethal in broken play if the Boks don’t put enough pressure on him.
The other important aspect for De Klerk will be his service from the base. Hendrikse was a bit pedestrian in clearing the lines against Wales in Bloemfontein, although Jacques Nienaber explained afterwards that he was satisfied with how the Sharks star had performed.
There was much more fluidity from Hendrikse in Cape Town, as well as Mbombela, so De Klerk needs to provide Handre Pollard and the rest of the backline enough space to do their thing on attack.
One of my major bugbears with De Klerk’s attacking game is that he doesn’t test the defences enough around the ruck fringes, as he has the speed and courage to do so.
He will be up against a similarly tigerish No 9 in Australia’s Nic White, who is a master tactical kicker, but can also bring his forwards into play at close quarters.
That is why if De Klerk can find his mojo again at the Adelaide Oval, the Boks will have a great chance to finally win in Australia…
IOL Sport
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