'He would definitely have a good look at what Pollock could be doing': Kitshoff

Former South Africa loosehead prop Steven Kitshoff has highlighted the importance of Felix Jones ahead of the Springboks’ Nations Championship meeting with England at Ellis Park next week.

The former Ireland international, who was part of Rassie Erasmus’ backroom staff for their two World Cup triumphs, rejoined the Springbok set-up last year after a year working under Steve Borthwick with England.

However, it is not necessarily the intel that Jones can provide that will make him so useful, Kitshoff believes, but his attention on individual players.

Speaking on the For the Love of Rugby and the For the Love of Rugby South Africa crossover, the double World Cup-winning prop explained that Jones puts a lot of focus on individuals, adding that the Springboks need to “target individual players” in order to be at their best.

Kitshoff specified that Henry Pollock will be in Jones’ crosshairs over the next week, as will Fin Smith and Marcus Smith.

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South Africa

45 - 21

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England

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“Having a guy like Felix Jones back, who spent some time with Steve, is quite an interesting conversation,” he said.

“Throughout my time spent that I spent with Felix, there was a lot of focus put in on individual players. So, he would definitely have a good look at what Pollock could be doing in and out of his game. He would look at the Smiths, he would look at the guys’ individual performances and say, ‘Listen, this is a guy that we need to watch.’

“There is time and respect that goes into understanding the soul of what England does and the DNA of England. There’s a big focus on our things and what we need to fix as the Springboks. But then there’s also an underlying thing of saying, ‘Listen, if we really need to rip these guys apart, we need to target individual players and make sure they are off their game.’

“If you find those three elements and put them together, that’s normally how the Springboks prepare and do their analysis work on any opposition they play.”