IF FRENCH LOCK Paul Willemse inspires an Irish demise at the Stade de France this weekend, we’ll only have one of our own to blame.
The 27-year-old South African was first brought to France from the Blue Bulls/Bulls by Bernard Jackman in 2014, playing for Jackman’s Grenoble before moving onto Montpellier a season later.
And so, Willemse may have Jackman to at least partially thank for his burgeoning international career which has been forged half a world away from where he grew up; he went on to qualify for France through the three-year residency rule.
His form at Montpellier — for whom he has scored a remarkable 20 tries in 89 appearances — and his impressive showings in Bleu have seen him become an integral part of Jacques Brunel’s French pack, and Willemse’s former coach Jackman warned The42 Rugby Weekly listeners on Thursday of the potential for him to wreak havoc against Andy Farrell’s Ireland in Saturday’s potential Six Nations decider.
“Just going back to that physicality at the breakdown”, Jackman said during his in-depth match preview with The42′s Murray Kinsella and presenter Gavan Casey, “I actually signed Willemse for Grenoble…and he’s probably the meanest man I’ve ever seen in contact.
We had this rucking net that we used to do on a Tuesday; you go under the net, you come out and you’ve got to melt somebody. And all the coaches used to look away when he came out because invariably someone would end up injured.
“And I think that’s going to be a huge part of the game this weekend. He’s hyper-aggressive but he has the power and technique to create forward momentum at the breakdown.
Ireland were able to get in and slow down the ball and take a lot of turnovers against Italy but this is going to be a different task. And I think, as well, as you (Murray) said, they’ve gotta make smarter decisions because of the difference in attacking threat. If they get it wrong and they over-commit and they don’t get the ball, we’ll be in trouble.
“So we can blame you, then, if Paul Willemse takes somebody’s head off?” Kinsella asked.
“Honestly”, Jackman replied, “honestly, I actually used to put my hands over my eyes. For most people at training, there’s a gentleman’s agreement sometimes but he knew only one way and that was 100%. And he was about 136 or 137 kilos, and aerobically he wouldn’t have been great but anaerobically and power-wise he was unbelievable.
“It’s great to see him play international rugby. He’s got his fitness level up and is definitely becoming a key part of that French pack. Scrum-wise and even maul-wise, he’s so effective; he can disrupt opposition maul so well.”
The lads’ detailed breakdown of France v Ireland can be found by searching for ‘The42 Rugby Weekly’ wherever you get your podcasts, and also includes analysis of last weekend’s Guinness Pro14 fixtures involving the four provinces.
Pragmatists Bernard Jackman and Murray Kinsella join the deludedly optimistic Gavan Casey to look ahead to the big one in Paris
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