John Dobson rolled the dice, deploying Damian Willemse on the wing for the first time in the United Rugby Championship clash against Edinburgh.
The Stormers boss explained that the decision was a collaborative one between the player and coaching staff to mitigate the threat that Edinburgh’s contestable kicking game posed in the Cape Town conditions.
While Willemse is renowned for his well-rounded skillset, which has allowed him to effectively play in multiple positions for club and country, those skills haven’t really been put to the test on the wing as he has played mainly at full-back, centre and fly-half for the Springboks and Stormers.
However, Dobson explained that a shift in the Stormers’ tactics means that the wing and full-back roles are essentially interchangeable in their set-up, with Willemse being their best player in the air.
The director of rugby was wary of the selection ploy backfiring on Saturday. “I hope it just comes off because obviously it’s one of those things, if it doesn’t come off, we are really going to take a bit of heat,” he told reporters.
So let’s see how Willemse fared on the wing by looking at every single one of his contributions throughout the 80 minutes of the URC clash.
Solid start
0 min: Willemse made his mark with the very first play of the game. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu sent up a high kick-off for his new winger to chase. While it was slightly too long for the 27-year-old to contest, he made the tackle and remained on his feet at the ensuing breakdown to force the turnover.
2 min: He chased a Feinberg-Mngomezulu kick, but it was too long and Malelili Satala claimed the mark and cleared into touch.
4 min: He was bounced by an Edinburgh attacker after a lineout. The Scottish team kicked shortly afterwards and a backtracking Willemse managed to recollect the ball but slipped when regathering and gifted Edinburgh a lineout 5 metres from the Stormers’ line.
11 min: He won the aerial duel from a Feinberg-Mngomezulu high bomb and took a few Edinburgh players with him when he went down.
12 min: Countered up to the Edinburgh 10-metre line and again took two players with him.
16 min: Got back after Edinburgh’s break and kick ahead. Crucially, Willemse kicked the ball dead with Edinburgh threatening to score. Stormers won a penalty from the ensuing scrum.
19 min: Taken out in the air by a teammate, but plucked the ball out of the air despite Stefan Ungerer’s poor box kick.
31 min: Collected long punt from Charlie Shiel, beat Satala with his footwork but was met solidly in defence by Marshall Sykes near the halfway line.
33 min: Sprinted back after James Lang picked off Ungerer’s pass but he had far too much ground to make up on the Scottish international who raced away to score.
34 min: Made a solid tackle from the restart.
37 min: He chased Warrick Gelant’s free-kick punt but was just not quick enough to get Ross Thompson ball and all in the tackle as the fly-half managed to get a pass away.
39 min: A half tackle on Shiel after the scrum-half darted down the short side from the scrum and fell at his feet.
40 min: Made a double hit with Ben-Jason Dixon on Satala after Sacha’s missed penalty kick to touch.
Into the second half
41 min: Tracked the tricky bounce of the ball well to deal with a threat in his 22. Shortly afterwards, he managed to tap back Ungerer’s box kick but that possession was spoiled soon after as Gelant dropped the ball cold.
44 min: Slipped twice in defence but it had no impact at all.
45 min: Made a double tackle after Ruhan Nel’s kick through.
48 min: Superbly blocked a grubber through from Edinburgh, collected the ball, offloaded to Ungerer, who got it away to Roos. A turnover spoiled the attack as Edinburgh cleared, but it did result in a try in the end as Leolin Zas took the lineout quickly to Gelant, who linked up with Nel, and Zas was sent over for the score.
51 min: Provided an easy passing option to Nel from a contestable kick and shifted the ball onto Gelant.
52 min: Unsuccessfully scrambled for the loose ball but Edinburgh secured possession. Kicked deep downfield soon after, where the Stormers conceded a penalty.
It was around this time that the Stormers’ backline seemingly shuffled repeatedly with Nel moving to the wing and Willemse into full-back. He did return to the wing where he remained for the rest of the game.
54 min: He cleaned up a grubber, danced past a few defenders before being taken to ground outside his 22.
57 min: Assistant tackler on Satala as Edinburgh attacked from the lineout and quickly made a second hit but Boan Venter scored after the second ruck.
59 min: Great take under the high ball.
64 min: Backline changes with Juree Matthee coming on, Feinberg-Mngomezulu shifts to 12 with Dan du Plessis heading off. Willemse remained on the wing.
67 min: A rare opportunity to stretch his legs as he received the ball from Gelant and he made good metres down the right-hand side. The Stormers recycled the ball quickly and Gelant gave Roos the ball and the number eight did the rest to extend the hosts’ lead.
74 min: Stylishly pulled in a pop pass from Roos, dummied before threading a pass out to Gelant, who kicked the ball dead.
76 min: A nice half-break off the shoulder of Matthee as he ran a move from inside centre but his pass did not go to hand. The Stormers were on a penalty advantage.
78 min: Got involved in the Stormers’ maul that was stalled by Edinburgh.
The verdict
All in all, it was a solid performance from Willemse, who did make a handful of mistakes but made more positive contributions than negatives.
There were no glaring mistakes that proved costly for the Stormers, while he very much did what was required of him and did it without fuss. It was not a raging success, but the kind of performance that can justify another trial.
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Willemse has become an incredibly reliable performer, and he proved that once again versus Edinburgh, providing Dobson with some vindication and reason to give the selection ploy another crack further down the line.
He may have started at full-back, fly-half and centre for the Springboks previously but while a run-out on the wing for Rassie Erasmus’ men does look some way off right now, the head coach will be pleased with the knowledge that he could do the job in a pinch.