Springbok Damian de Allende may love every minute he stays in Japan and plays for the Panasonic Wild Knights, but his allegiances are clear - the Boks come first.
De Allende and his Wild Knights teammate Lood de Jager will be key figures as the Boks look to exploit any vulnerabilities the star-studded Barbarians side have at the moment, especially as the composite side will be coached by Wild Knights coach Robbie Deans.
De Allende and De Jager have spent several seasons being coached by Deans and know the way the former Wallaby coach thinks and acts.
With the Barbarians likely to only be together a few days, they also know the type of plays he is likely to rely on for the one-off game in Cape Town next weekend.
De Allende smiled when he was asked about whether the Bok brain trust had tapped his knowledge ahead of next weekend’s game, and revealed he had chatted strategy to the two Irish assistant coaches in the Bok setup - Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery.
Flannery heads up the defence while Jones normally analyses the opposition’s strengths and weaknesses and both would be very keen to get an idea of how the Barbarians are likely to play.
BARBARIANS LOOK TO ENTERTAIN
The game differs from normal tests in that the Barbarians are known for their entertaining play and won’t have much time to practice attacking drills, but that also means the Boks can’t analyse them properly either.
“Yeah, I've spoken to some of the coaches,” De Allende smiled at the question.
“I've spoken to Felix and Jerry a bit from the attacking side. Obviously, I love Panasonic. I love the way we play rugby. I love that Robbie Deans has taught me a lot. But my country comes first.”
Dean will be assisted by his attack coach Atsushi Kanazawa, who is his assistant at the Wild Knights as they look to use their plays from the Japanese league in next weekend’s game.
De Allende credited both of them for teaching him a few tricks on moving the ball around the park.
“Yeah, I have a lot of respect for Robbie and Ash, our attack coach. He's also the attack coach of our opponents next week. They've taught me a hell of a lot in Japan and how to identify space and move in the ball and stuff. It's going to be challenging because Robbie and Ash will want the guys to move the ball around
UNSTRUCTURED PLAY
“I think the challenge will be that. I think Robbie and Ash will get them to move the ball around in a structured environment. They'll get that structure right quite quickly. And luckily for Lood and myself, we know quite a bit of the structure.
“We don't know what exactly they will do, but we might have an idea of what they will try and bring.”
De Allende did address the misconception of him only being a crash-ball midfielder and said often fans mistake the skills he has for the stereotype that has followed him around his career.
“Yeah, I don't know. I think it's quite tough because I think sometimes with fans, once they fixate on something about a player, it just sticks with that fan and the player. It's like an agreement between themselves and the player and it just sticks with them through their whole career.
“But no, it doesn't affect me. I know I've improved a lot. I also understand that rugby is a dominant sport, so for us to play and achieve things on the field, we need dominance and we need to go forward. I understand that sometimes I had to do the dirty work to put the forwards on the front foot and the rest of the guys on the front foot, but that wasn't just me.
DOMINANT PLAY COUNTS
“I understand the basics of rugby. If you do the basics well, you can put your team in good spaces. I've learned a lot over the past few years. I've learned that moving the ball can open up more space, not just for yourself but for the guys around you as well. I still know that sometimes we're going to have to grind it out and carry the ball in two or three forwards and try and get momentum and try and get the guys over the advantage line.
“I just understand what we want to achieve on the field and the way we have to achieve it is by being dominant.”
De Allende also underlined the special friendship he has with fellow Bok midfielder Jesse Kriel and how that is not only in their playing style on the field.
“We have a great friendship. We try to see each other quite often in Japan. We meet up for dinner and stuff and just have a catch-up. We get along very well. I'm looking forward to playing alongside him again.
“Whether he and I play or a guy like Ethan (Hooker), who is coming onto the scene now, plays, it's good. Obviously, Andre (Esterhuizen) and Lukey (Lukhanyo Am) are helping him at the Sharks. So no matter which one of the centres plays, we'll make sure that we're always prepared and ready to achieve on the field.”