After three months out, Grant Williams back with a bang for Boks

Scoring a try after only eight minutes in his comeback match against Italy, after spending three months on the sidelines because of a serious neck injury, helped to settle his nerves on Saturday, scrumhalf Grant Williams said.

The livewire No 9 was one of the Boks’ stars when they romped to a 45-0 win over a shell-shocked Azzurri outfit at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium to clinch a resounding 2-0 series victory.

The Boks were in rampant form in front of 46,000 adoring fans and scored seven tries despite losing No 8 Jasper Wiese after he was red-carded in the 22nd minute.

Saturday’s win in Gqeberha followed a 54-7 victory against the Barbarians in Cape Town and a 42-24 win against Italy in Tshwane.

Apart from Williams’ comeback, the match marked significant milestones for Bok centurion Willie le Roux and the three debutants — Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cobus Wiese and Ethan Hooker.

“I wish I could have played for the Sharks first before the Boks,” Williams said. “There was a bit of nerves this week after a frustrating three months, but I am happy we got the win and, personally, to be able to play again. There was obviously a little rust, but I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks.”

“I think I was calm after my try in the eighth minute. It was great to score a try, even though it was Willie’s try that I took. My mindset last week was all about getting on the field and ensuring I nailed the detail, but I’m happy for the team and about the result.”

Williams formed a formidable partnership with flyhalf Manie Libbok as the Boks dictated play against the Italians.

“It’s not just like that with Manie,” he said. “It’s the same with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Handré Pollard, Damian Willemse and Manie. There’s a plan for every game, and this week the strategy was to try a few things, and it worked.

“It’s always special to play with Manie. We have a great relationship, but at the same time it doesn’t matter who I play alongside.”

“It’s always difficult to get a red card, but if you know coach Rassie Erasmus, there is always a plan, so we were well prepared for a card, which happened to be the case in the match.”

Erasmus expressed support for Wiese after the game, but did not go as far as making a judgment on the matter.

“I’m not able to say it was right or wrong or how bad it was,” he said. “Jasper must now handle that with our support. He is just so committed and passionate about the team, and it would have been wonderful for him to play in this game with his brother Cobus, which didn’t happen.”

In the Barbarians game, we didn’t concede a lot of points in a tough, rainy match — we got a 50 there, we got 42 last week and 45 here and conceded only 24 points against Italy and, overall, a lot of the guys got caps

—  Rassie Erasmus

“It’s sad, he’s not a guy who goes out there to do those kinds of things, but I don’t want to say anything here that can make it better or worse because I’m not 100% sure what is the best way to take it forward.”

Erasmus said he was pleased with how the squad was building towards the Rugby Championship.

“In the Barbarians game, we didn’t concede a lot of points in a tough, rainy match — we got a 50 there, we got 42 last week and 45 here and conceded only 24 points against Italy and, overall, a lot of the guys got caps,” he said.

“So hopefully after the Georgia game, a lot of the guys will have had two caps, and we will have won all four matches and we can pick a nice, settled, balanced team for the Rugby Championship.”

The Springboks made the trip from Gqeberha to Mbombela via Johannesburg on Sunday and returned to training on Monday to prepare for Saturday’s clash against Georgia at the Mbombela Stadium.

The Herald