'New' No.9 on Boks' radar
IN THE SPOTLIGHT: Stormers’ upcoming match against the Highlanders is the perfect opportunity for Herschel Jantjies to ‘test’ himself against a world-class scrumhalf.
The gutsy 23-year-old has been a standout performer in the Stormers set-up.
Brought in as a replacement for veteran Jano Vermaak in March, the youngster took the opportunity with both hands and consistently produced impressive performances for the Stormers – who have struggled with consistency throughout the year.
Deflated from their embarrassing 3-40 defeat to the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld, Jantjies helped the Cape Town side bounced back with a 19-17 win over Lions. He captivated the Newlands’ faithful with the match-winning try from the bench during the Round two encounter in Cape Town.
The 23-year-old followed that up with another well-executed display against the Sharks and another sniping try against Jaguares.
Jantjies’ attack, which includes incisive breaks and agility at the breakdown, often sees him receive rave reviews.
However, since being included in the Super Rugby side his defence has developed into another facet which has been vital – not only to the team, but for his own game as well.
Small in stature, it is easy to underestimate the nippy scrumhalf’s defensive prowess. However, with 62 tackles completed and only 10 missed, he has proven that he can make the big hits when necessary.
Fresh from the morale-boosting 19-all draw with the Crusaders at the weekend, the No.9 now face one his toughest opponents in the form of All Blacks and Highlanders scrumhalf Aaron Smith – when the teams meet on Saturday.
Even though the 23-year-old refused to focus on the ‘personal battle’ against Smith, who is regarded as one the best scrumhalves in the world with more than 80 Test caps, a good performance will certainly be a great omen for his promising future.
“[The scrumhalf battle] is not a personal battle for me, because I have my own processes to follow and need to focus on myself,” Jantjies told reporters at training.
“I will be playing my game and not worry about the opposition.
“Last week we focused on the individual performance and worked quite nicely for us, now hopefully we can take the momentum from the Crusaders game and just topped it against the Highlanders.”
He added: “I still have a long way to go to be compared to Aaron Smith and Faf De Klerk but if I am willing to learn and focus on what I can achieve then there is no reason why I can’t achieve it with more game time,”
Jantjies was recently part of the Springboks alignment camp. Certainly, not guaranteed that he will make the trip to the World Cup, the youngster’s inclusion does provide an indication that he has the attention of the Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus.
“I was at the camp. We just had a few meetings,” he said.
“There were no one-on-one meetings, we just dealt with planning stuff relating to the Rugby Championship and then the World Cup.
“But my mind is not on that.”
He explained: “I can’t be playing for Stormers and my mind is in Japan. If I don’t play well for the Stormers then I won’t make it, so my focus is on the next four games for Stormers and hopefully with God on my side I can go on from there.”
By Leezil Hendricks
@Leezil07
@rugby365com
