Ben Youngs was listing the ways South Africa can hurt a defence when he stopped himself mid-sentence, because he had just called Damian de Allende underrated and realised he did not actually believe the word.
He is one of the most, I don’t know why I say it, underrated centres, Youngs said on this week’s For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa. Because he’s not, for me. He’s one of the best centres in the world, but he doesn’t often get put in that bracket, and he should be.
An England international with 127 caps, sitting on a South African podcast, naming the Springbok he thinks the rest of the world has failed to rate properly. It is not the name most people would have guessed.
Contents
- What Ben Youngs said about Damian de Allende
- Why Damian de Allende gets left out of the conversation
- The other one they rate
- What South Africa actually lose without Siya Kolisi
- Who wears 6 instead
- The bigger point about this squad
- Quick answers
What Ben Youngs said about Damian de Allende
The context matters. Youngs was making a broader argument that outsiders default to New Zealand as the attacking threat in this fixture, and stop counting once they have named a couple of All Blacks.
Start listing the Springbok back line properly and the picture changes. Jesse Kriel in current form. Cheslin Kolbe. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Grant Williams off the bench. And in the middle of it, Damian de Allende, who has now won two World Cups and is still described as solid rather than great.
Youngs could not explain the gap. He just did not accept it.
Why Damian de Allende gets left out of the conversation
Youngs offered no theory, so this part is our reading rather than his.
Start with the job. De Allende’s role in a Rassie Erasmus side is to win the collision at 12, get South Africa over the gain line, and put the forwards on the front foot. Almost none of that shows up in a highlights package. Nobody clips a carry that made four metres instead of three.
Then there is where he plays his rugby. De Allende has spent years in Japan with the Saitama Wild Knights, well outside the URC and Champions Cup coverage that keeps European centres in front of European audiences every weekend.
And the lists reward the man outside him. Kriel gets the interceptions and the tries. De Allende gets the tackle that had to be made in the 63rd minute.
Ross Karl’s number from the same conversation puts it in context. Through July the Springboks averaged four metres past the gain line when they got over it, against three for New Zealand. That gap does not happen by accident, and it does not happen without a 12 who wins his collision.
The other one they rate
Youngs was warm on Kriel too, and specifically on his current form rather than his reputation. The pairing has been together long enough that the two of them barely need to talk about who is taking which channel, which is the sort of thing that decides Tests at Ellis Park.
Our tactical review of the Springboks’ 2025 season covers how much of the attack now runs through that midfield.
What South Africa actually lose without Siya Kolisi
Karl raised the other underrated-player question of the week, carefully, because it cuts the opposite way. He said he had read South Africans arguing the team might actually be better without Siya Kolisi.
Kolisi limped out of the 17-10 win over Argentina on 9 August with a recurring hamstring problem, the opposite leg to the one that kept him out of three Nations Championship matches. Erasmus said the next day that it did not look too bad, pending scans.
Steven Kitshoff, who played alongside him for a decade, did not engage with the on-field version of the question at all.
His answer was about the hotel. The camp. The way Kolisi is with a 22-year-old walking into a Springbok environment for the first time and not knowing where to sit. That, he said, is the bit they will miss, and it is the bit nobody can pick a replacement for.
Which is its own kind of underrating. Kolisi is the most recognised rugby player in the country and the argument about him is still conducted entirely in tackles and turnovers.
Who wears 6 instead
Kitshoff named Paul de Villiers in his predicted XV and did not treat it as a stopgap. The Stormers loose forward deputised through the Nations Championship and, in Kitshoff’s view, has made the shirt hard to hand back.
Kolisi’s own return to Cape Town is covered in our piece on his move back to the Stormers. No captain had been named for Ellis Park as of 13 August.
The bigger point about this squad
Karl’s verdict on the whole side, after hearing Kitshoff read it out with the captain missing and two positions unresolved, was that it is still an incredible team and they are in an all-time place right now.
Then the sting. If you picked a combined XV today, he said, there might be 10 or 12 Springboks in it. But by the end of the series, will there be eight All Blacks?
He concedes the gap in full and then argues that four Tests against the world champions in their own country is exactly what a rebuilding New Zealand side needs. Whether South Africa are genuinely untouchable is something we have put under the microscope before, and the next month answers it properly.
Kick-off at Ellis Park is 17:10 SAST on Saturday 22 August. Fixtures and results are in our Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry hub, and our look at what Erasmus is worth explains how the depth was built.
Damian de Allende: who he plays for
Who does Damian de Allende play for?
He is a South Africa international centre and plays his club rugby in Japan for the Saitama Wild Knights. He has won the Rugby World Cup twice, in 2019 and 2023.
Is Siya Kolisi playing at Ellis Park?
He is a doubt. He came off after roughly 24 minutes against Argentina on 9 August with a recurring hamstring injury, and Erasmus said the following day that it did not look too bad, pending scans.
Ben Youngs, Steven Kitshoff and Ross Karl were speaking on For The Love Of Rugby: South Africa on 16 August 2026. Squad and injury detail confirmed via SA Rugby and TimesLIVE.
