VIDEO: Jesse Kriel makes the 'tough decisions'

SPOTLIGHT: Springbok centre Damian de Allende was in awe of his midfield partner during last weekend’s first Test against Ireland in Pretoria.

Jesse Kriel was a standout in that 27-20 win at Loftus Versfeld – making 77 metres with his carries and being a brick wall on defence once again.

He has formed a formidable midfield combination with De Allende and the duo will set a new record on Saturday in the second Test at Kings Park.

That match will be their 30th in the midfield together, making them the most-capped centre pairing in Springbok history.

Ahead of this coming Saturday’s face-off, De Allende was asked to explain why Kriel is such a good midfield partner.

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“He is a lot faster than me,” De Allende joked.

He added: “He is excellent on defence and reading the game and making tough decisions.

“His decision-making on defence was incredible.

“He put the Irish players under a lot of pressure and you could see that on the field.

“When someone is that brave and they take that chance, you could see that they [Irish] were under pressure.

“I think the Irish will maybe come with a different game plan, but it was incredible to watch Jesse on the weekend and play with him.”

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Name a better duo, we will wait…🔥

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De Allende also took some time to send Kriel a message ahead of their recording-breaking match on Saturday.

“It is a great achievement for Jesse and myself,” said De Allende.

“I met him in 2014 when I first made the Springboks and he was training with us already.

“I’d like to congratulate him on this achievement.

“In their prime, Jean [De Villiers] and Jaque [Fourie] [who held the previous record of 29 Tests together] were probably the two best centres playing at the time, so it is an incredible achievement.

“But I am not focussed on that. I just want to get the job done on Saturday and I will celebrate that afterwards.”

Meanwhile, De Allende also showed some great touches with ball in hand in the first Test and earlier this week, attack coach Tony Brown labelled him the “best passer in the Springbok team”.

“I always wanted to pass more, but I also know sometimes you need to do a role, which is more important in my view,” the midfielder explained

“It’s also just about getting that balance right on when to pass and when not to pass.

“It is something I have been working on.

“In Japan, I get asked to move the ball around a bit more, which is nice.

“It gives my body a bit of a break during games. But like I said, it’s just finding that balance and trying to get that balance right in the game.”

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