Double Rugby World Cup winner Steven Kitshoff has given his verdict on two South African wingers who caught his eye in last weekend’s Investec Champions Cup and compared the merits of Cameron Hanekom against Duane Vermeulen and Jasper Wiese.
The retired front-rower was enthused by the round one victories the Bulls and Stormers secured against European opposition, and he singled out a winger from each team for the impact they made.
Rookie 20-year-old Cheswill Jooste scored a hat-trick in the Bulls’ 56-20 win over Stade Francais in Pretoria, while 33-year-old Seabelo Senatla put Stormers on the way to their 49-12 victory over Bristol in Cape Town with an early goosestepping score.
Their impact gladdened Kitshoff’s heart. “Cheswill Jooste actually just rocked up and played an incredible game, opening within the first 20 seconds of the game scoring his first try,” he enthused on the latest edition of For the Love of Rugby.
“Incredible to see these guys perform like this…”
“It just shows, especially in most of these teams, there’s a big emphasis on the wingers and how the wingers have to play. And you look at the Stormers game, a guy like Seabelo Senatla scored an incredible try, the opening try of the game, pure pace. He was brilliant in the aerial game, similar to Jooste.
“Not just attacking-wise and breaking through the line and using his feet and putting on a goosestep that I’ve never seen before happening in that way, how fast it was and how clean it was and how quickly he moved away – it was just incredible to see these guys perform like this.
“From a wing perspective, there’s such a massive talent pool in South Africa at the moment, which is exciting. And Senatla putting his name into the hat, Cheswill Jooste putting his name into the hat, it’s quite amazing to see these guys come through and perform like that.”
Kitshoff, the 2019 and 2023 World Cup winner who retired with 83 Test caps, also ran the rule over Hanekom, the 24-year-old back-rower with just six Springbok appearances so far in his fledgling international career.
A listener to the FTLOR show claimed after watching Hanekom play for the Bulls in recent weeks that he was the best No.8 that South Africa has produced since Morne du Plessis back in the 1970s.
“It’s a massive claim,” Kitshoff began. “I absolutely love Cam Hanekom, his performances the last two weekends. In the URC against the Lions, he was absolutely brilliant, and this weekend again against Stade Francais, he was incredible.
“He is one of those guys that’s got a bit of a complete game. Like, his ball in hand is destructive. Defensively, he is amazing; he gets over the loose ball. He makes a lot of turnovers, and then he has got an unbelievable engine on him as well and silky, soft hands for the offloading game.
“But Cam, size-wise is not where Duane Vermeulen and Jasper Wiese is, especially when it comes to Test match rugby. The pure dominance that those guys show, Duane especially back in the day and setting the tone, and Jasper with what he’s currently doing internationally is quite impactful.
“But Cam Hanekom has got a bright future, and as he is still a very young number eight, still developing his game and still understanding and gaining those experiences, he is definitely someone for the future.
“He is going to push hard to try and get in that eight jumper, maybe even try and push for a spot at the World Cup, but definitely after the World Cup, you will see him feature more often, especially for the Springboks.”
Despite the No.1-ranked Springboks’ success in international rugby, South African clubs are still looking to make a huge impact in the Champions Cup for the first time. Last season ended with Stormers and Bulls defeated in the away round of 16 matches, while the Sharks failed to qualify from their pool.
Kitshoff reckoned that last weekend’s home wins from Stormers and Bulls augured well for their chances of securing a home draw for the knockout stages next April. “Stormers and Bulls played quite inexperienced teams (Bristol and Stade Francais) or teams sending a couple of youngsters, a couple of new guys to South Africa.
“But what stood out was the relentlessness of the way that they attacked. The Bulls really used their set-piece to great dominance trying to get an upper hand, especially tiring the Stade Francais players out quite early in the game, targeting the scrum, targeting the maul, giving them big shots there, tiring the legs out because at Loftus, especially those last 20 minutes become the most crucial.
“And then seeing players like Willie le Roux come onto the field making a huge difference, a lot of impact, especially ball in hand trying to loosen up the back three.
“So, in the Bulls game it was just a nice dominance on how they built through the game, showing composure, sticking to their guns and then especially when the game started opening up when the Stade Francais players got a bit more tired and the altitude started kicking in, having the ability to pull the trigger and go out wide and score some brilliant tries.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“And in the Stormers game as well, conceding a red card quite early with JJ Lotze, a head knock, conceding a yellow card a bit later in that game, but still staying in the game. A couple of missed opportunities. I felt Siya Kolisi’s knock-on was one of them. Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) knocked the ball 20 metres in front of the line, but also playing against a very inexperienced Bristol team.
“But just showing up, backing their set-piece, coming through the phases, playing attacking, kicking game, trying to get in Bristol’s half and then just piling on the pressure for as long as possible and then start building that scoreboard pressure which becomes quite tough to come back from.
“The mindset of the African teams, especially these two guys, is all about making sure that those home games are so important. We saw the Bulls last year actually lose against Bristol Bears at Loftus.
“Looking at the pool and looking down further down the line, especially for those home play-off games, it kicks you in the nuts a little bit later in the season. But having good home wins just makes your chances so much better for hosting one of those round of 16 play-off games.”