Nick Mallett singles out two Springboks who were ‘shown up’ in Wallabies victory
Nick Mallett has identified Aphelele Fassi and Canan Moodie as two Springboks who did not impress him during the world champions’ recent victory over the Wallabies in Cape Town.
After kicking off their Rugby Championship campaign with a shock 38-22 defeat against Australia in Johannesburg, South Africa bounced back with a 30-22 triumph over the same opposition in Cape Town on Saturday.
Both sides crossed for three tries apiece with the springboks delivering a much improved performance, after their second half implosion in Johannesburg where the Wallabies scored 38 unanswered points after the home side raced into a 22-0 lead.
That result was a significant one as it was Australia’s first victory against the Boks in South Africa in 12 years and their first win at the world-famous Ellis Park since 1963.
It meant the Boks had their backs to the wall ahead of Saturday’s clash at DHL Stadium in Cape Town, and their head coach, Rassie Erasmus, initially made 10 changes to his starting line-up.
Moodie was one of those alterations as he came into the run-on side on the right wing – after starting on the bench in Johannesburg – while Fassi was left out of the matchday squad at first but was recalled to start at full-back when Willie le Roux withdrew due to a niggling groin injury a day before the Test.
Moodie and Fassi heavily involved in Cape Town
Both Moodie and Fassi were in the thick of the action in Cape Town with the former crossing for the Boks’ first try in the 11th minute but he made several handling errors, one of which led to a try for Wallabies flyer Max Jorgensen, and Erasmus eventually replaced him with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu in the 55th minute.
Meanwhile, Fassi also made some unforced errors on attack, most notably when he kicked the ball directly into touch during the latter stages of the first half, while the Boks also finished the match with 14 men after he was yellow carded for a deliberate knockdown when the Wallabies launched an attack in the game’s dying moments.
And the backline duo’s underwhelming performances did not go unnoticed, with Mallet highlighting it when speaking on the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel.
“I don’t think Fassi had a great game, and I don’t think also that Canan Moodie had his best game on Saturday,” he said.
The two of them, I think had they played better, we would have been more comfortable.
‘They were both under a bit of pressure’
“But they were both under a bit of pressure in that game. I mean, I think the first try (scored by Corey Toole), I wasn’t sure what our positioning was when Nick White put the little grubber through. Why was there not a full-back?
Moodie and Fassi are two of the more inexperienced backline players in the Boks squad, and Mallett urged them to follow the examples of the world champions’ more seasoned campaigners.
“Those players, backline players, unfortunately, get shown up when you make errors,” said the former Springboks head coach.
“But the mark of a really good backline player is an error-free game. It’s not about how many brilliant moves you do. It’s being like (Cheslin) Kolbe.
How many mistakes do you see Kolbe make? Just so few. How many mistakes do you see (Damian) De Allende make? Very few. (Handre) Pollard, very few.
