Grant Williams is relishing the chance to ignite the Springboks’ attack alongside Manie Libbok when South Africa face the Wallabies at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Grant Williams is relishing the chance to ignite the Springboks’ attack alongside Manie Libbok when South Africa face the Wallabies at Ellis Park on Saturday.
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The Sharks scrumhalf has been rewarded for his dynamic cameos in green and gold this season, and now steps into the No 9 jersey for the first of two back-to-back Rugby Championship Tests against Australia.
Williams, who has been in and out of action due to injury, believes his halfback combination with Libbok has the potential to cause problems for the visitors.
“I think it’s quite special playing with Manie,” Williams told SuperSport.
“I think we have a real feel for each other’s [way of playing]. If my energy’s good, Manie will also feed off it but in the same breath, it’s the same with Sacha [Feinberg-Mngomezulu], Handre [Pollard] and Damian [Willemse]. Whatever the game plan is, if I have to play with all four 10s, it’ll be quite exciting.”
The 28-year-old knows competition for the scrumhalf spot is fierce, with the likes of Cobus Reinach, Morne van den Berg, Faf de Klerk and Jaden Hendrikse all in the mix.
“I think it’s going to be pretty important. I get to start this weekend, but I know Cobus, Morne, Faf, Jaden – any of them can play in the 9 jersey. My job is just to make sure that I nail my role and make sure that I serve the team this weekend.”
After recovering from a neck injury earlier this year, Williams credited Rassie Erasmus for giving him the confidence to return to his best.
“I haven’t played a lot this year. I was injured with my neck and he invited me to camp, to do my rehab in camp and make sure that I was available to play in Italy 2 when I was finally cleared to play again. So that backing from him was quite important and gave me confidence.”
Williams says his priority against the Wallabies will be to set the platform for the Boks’ forwards and keep his all-round game sharp.
“I think just making sure that I save our forwards, first and foremost and making sure my passing game, kicking game, running game, awareness – I think the all-round game is pretty important for me, and I think that’ll be my job.”
