Willemse ready to strut his stuff at Loftus

The Herald

7 hours ago

Dynamic fullback Damian Willemse is champing at the bit to get his first touch of the ball and strut his stuff for the Springboks when they open their Test season against Italy at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Willemse wants to put months of frustration behind him when SA bid to make a winning start to a double header against a fired-up Azzurri outfit over the next two weekends in Tshwane and Gqeberha.
Willemse is making his return to the Bok side for the first time since the 2023 World Cup final, having missed out on an entire international season because of injury.
'It has been a difficult year,' he said.
'After two years with injury, and then obviously with the suspension keeping me out and stopping me from playing rugby.
'But I am very happy to get another shot and for the coaches to believe in me and to get my opportunity again to play. I'm looking forward to it and I'm excited.
'I'm a bit nervous, obviously. I haven't played, and the last game I played was in the World Cup final.
'I'll have to obviously get in and just do my primary job, and hopefully the rest of the boys will take care of me and look after me.
'There are a lot of guys in the team, the coaching staff and the months of preparation that we had that give me a lot of security.
'I think as soon as I get out onto the field and have a first touch of the ball and sing the national anthem, I'll probably get into it and forget about the nerves and settle a little bit.
'You never forget you are playing for the Springboks and the national team, so it does come with a little bit of added pressure.
'Still, it is something I'm looking forward to as well.
'I know I've got great outside backs and experienced guys in the team that will look after me.'
Commenting on what he expected against Italy, Bok coach Rassie Erasmus said: 'Italy are a quality team with a strong pack and quality backs, and their passion for the team and their country is incredible, so we expect them to throw everything at us.'
Bok flyhalf Handré Pollard, who returned to SA after stints playing club rugby in France and England, spoke equally highly of Italy.
'This is a good Italian team, and we are not underestimating them, especially with the passion and physicality they play with,' he said.
'They also have a lot of threats, and they are a side that are clearly evolving if one looks at their results in the last few years against some of the top teams, so it will be important to stop them and to front up physically.
'Over and above that, we have set high standards for ourselves, and we want to implement that at Test level.'
The teams:
SA: 15 Damian Willemse; 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel (capt), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse; 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Morne van den Berg; 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche. R eplacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Faf de Klerk, 23 Willie le Roux.
Italy squad: Forwards: Pietro Ceccarelli, Simone Ferrari, Danilo Fischetti, Muhamed Hasa, Mirco Spagnolo, Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, Pablo Dimcheff, Giacomo Nicotera, Matteo Canali, Niccolò Cannone, Riccardo Favretto, Andrea Zambonin, Lorenzo Cannone, Alessandro Izekor, Sebastian Negri, David Odiase, Ross Vintcent, Manuel Zuliani. Backs: Alessandro Fusco, Alessandro Garbisi, Stephen Varney, Giacomo Da Re, Giovanni Montemauri, Giulio Bertaccini, Damiano Mazza, Tommaso Menoncello, Marco Zanon, Mirko Belloni , Simone Gesi, Louis Lynach, Paolo Odogwu, Jacopo Trulla.
The Herald