Canan is primed for outside centre backup role

He wasn’t present at the online press conference to say it himself, so Canan Moodie’s Springbok and Vodacom Bulls teammate Kurt-Lee Arendse said it for him - the 20-year-old product of Paarl will relish the prospect of wearing the No 13 jersey against the All Blacks on Friday night.

The inclusion of Moodie alongside Andre Esterhuizen in the midfield represented the two surprise selections for the final World Cup warmup game against New Zealand at Twickenham. So far, Moodie has only played wing for the Boks, but coach Jacques Nienaber did say last year that he saw him as a potential centre.

And if it is in the midfield that he eventually settles as an international player he won’t be the first to have done so - the legendary Jean de Villiers joined Jaque Fourie in racking up a record number of caps for his country in the midfield but it was on the left wing that he played most of his early international rugby. Coming to think of it, so did Moodie’s direct opponent on Friday night, Rieko Ioane.

Whatever the case though, Arendse, who returns on the wing after sitting out the last two games to give Moodie a chance to run on the wing, leaves no doubt that Moodie will welcome the switch of position.

“When we are in the room he always says he would like the opportunity to play outside centre,” said Arendse of his roommate.

“I have seen what Canan can do. He will do well at No 13,” he added.

Moodie isn’t being looked at as a potential first-choice outside centre right now, but circumstance has dictated that the Bok coach should try him there.

“It might look like a left-field option to people on the outside, but Canan has run a lot there in training,” said Nienaber.

“So as coaches, we have got to see him there a lot, and although we know that training is different to an actual game, we are confident he can make the adjustment. We are looking at him as the third backup at outside centre. Lukhanyo Am is still injured, Jesse (Kriel) has done well playing at 13 in the last few matches, and we have used Damian de Allende there in the past.

“But if things happen that make it impossible to rely on those options, then it is important to have Canan there as a backup in that position. He is going to be backup until Lukhanyo is back fully fit. That is a few weeks away. I am excited about seeing how Canan goes at centre, particularly as he is up against one of the best No 13s in the world in Rieko.”

EXPERIMENTING AT THE BACK

While the forwards look fairly settled, there appears to be some experimentation going on at the back, something that Nienaber attributed to the depth of talent South Africa suddenly has when it comes to outside backs. He said Esterhuizen was getting his chance to play because of how well he has done this season at inside centre coupled with the game miles that have been racked up by the regular first choice centre De Allende.

“If you look at the team we have selected you might be correct in saying that there is an experimental aspect at the back, but if you look at the forwards, and you take into mind our six/two split on the bench between forwards and backs, you will see that Trevor Nyakane and Eben Etzebeth are the only changes from last week. We have 12 forwards out of 14 across the match day squad who were involved against Wales.

At the back we have only 50 per cent who played last week, with a new scrumhalf combo in the form of Faf de Klerk and Cobus Reinach. If you look at the outside backs in the games we have played this year you will note that we are doing really well. Kurt-Lee won the man of the match award against Australia, then Cheslin Kolbe won the man of the match in the first game against Australia, and Canan has won the man of the match in the last two games.

“So that proves we have quality outside backs and we can spread the load between them,” he added.