Moodie excited to link up with ‘world-class' De Allende
Rising Springbok star Canan Moodie said he is eager to feed off the experience of Damian de Allende when the two play in the midfield against Georgia on Saturday.
South Africa take on Georgia for just the third time in rugby, with the kick-off at Mbombela Stadium at 5.10pm.
Moodie, 22, has 13 caps under his belt and is still relatively new to international rugby, though he's already featuring in his fourth season in green and gold and has a World Cup title to his name.
By comparison, 33-year-old De Allende has 89 caps from an illustrious 11-year career that has seen him play in three World Cups, winning two. He could earn his 100th Test cap by the end of this season or at least in the early stages of the next one.
Moodie to feed off De Allende
The pair were chosen to start against Georgia, with De Allende at his customary inside centre role and Moodie on the outside.
It's the second Bok appearance for Moodie this season after missing the friendly against the Barbarians and first Test match against Italy. He played 56 minutes in the second Test, attacking hard and scoring a great try in the first half.
He played at outside centre again, though he is often positioned on the right wing, particularly at club level.
'I'm very grateful to get the backing of the coaches to play me at 13,' Moodie said on Tuesday. 'It's going to be very exciting for me to play with a world-class centre like Damian, to know he will make the right decisions, and I [will] just play off him. So I am very grateful for the opportunity to play again.'
He said there is much competition for places in the squad, but this is healthy.
'When guys are gunning for a spot, it is very competitive in our training weeks. We got psyched up the whole week for the Italian game and we wanted to prove a point. We just had to transfer that into Saturday. I think we were all [ready] for whatever talent Italy had to throw at us.'
Moodie happy for Grant Williams, who earns another start
The centre added he was happy for Grant Williams — who also scored a try in the second Test against Italy — to earn a start again.
'When I was still at school and Grant was still going through his journey, the tough journey he had to club rugby… Now we get to score tries on the international stage. So it's very special momento [tries against Italy] to see how far we've come and the things we've done so far.'
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