One cap from a century
Damian de Allende is 34 years old and one appearance away from a number very few Springboks ever reach. If Rassie Erasmus names him at inside centre on Thursday, De Allende will run out at Ellis Park on Saturday for his 100th Test.
The four-match series against the All Blacks opens in Johannesburg this weekend. Both coaches announce their teams on Thursday, and both are expected to pick the men who have owned the number 12 jersey for years. For South Africa that is De Allende. For New Zealand it is Jordie Barrett.
Barrett is 29 and sits on 81 caps. He will get to a hundred eventually. What he has done over the past 18 months is turn himself from a very good Test back into the player the All Blacks build their midfield around, and his kicking game has become the thing opposition coaches talk about first.
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Two former Boks, two verdicts
Jean de Villiers and Robbie Fleck picked the duel apart on the Boks Unpacked podcast, in comments published earlier today. Fleck went first and went further.
“They’re both really hard, aggressive centres that carry well and have good skill sets,” he said. “I think the only dynamic that Jordie’s got over Damian is his kicking game, which he’s brought through now. Right now I think Jordie Barrett is becoming one of the best centres in the world, he’s earned that right and I think he would be a tough player to play against right now.”
De Villiers would not go there. “That’s also like saying a centre is better than a prop,” he said. “The way that the All Blacks play, the way that they utilise their midfielders to the way that we utilise our midfielders, is totally different, so you’re not comparing apples with apples.” He settled on something safer and probably truer: “I think they are two world-class centres.”
Four Tests to settle it
De Villiers did leave a marker. After this tour, he said, we will be able to say who is the best. Four Tests against the same opponent is an unusual amount of evidence in modern rugby, and these two will spend most of it running at each other.
Barrett arrives in form. He controlled a waterlogged win over the Sharks a week ago, then the tourists came through their final warm-up against the Bulls on Saturday. De Allende arrives with 99 caps and a reputation built on exactly the kind of contest Ellis Park tends to produce.
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