Rassie Erasmus’s decision to deploy Damian Willemse at flyhalf when he came on as a second half substitute against the Pumas was no ruse. It had been widely expected that Willemse would go to fullback in the place of Willie le Roux but with the match still in the balance after the hour mark‚ the coach went for what he believed was the safer option. He explained that he still needed Le Roux’s experience in the back three alongside green horn wings Aphiwe Dyantyi and Makazole Mapimpi. He could not replace Handré Pollard with Willemse either so instead he curtailed inside centre Andre Esterhuizen’s activity‚ moved Pollard to second receiver which paved the way for Willemse at flyhalf. "The coach spoke to me at half time‚" said Willemse about the decision to slot in at 10. "He said to me the game is tight and he’s going to put me on at 10. I got myself ready for that." Once in the thick of things‚ Willemse had a bit of a mixed bag debut. The horror pass he threw led to an intercept try ...
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