Lambie weighs in on Willemse positional debate: 'Perhaps he's better suited to 12 or 15'

Former Springbok flyhalf Pat Lambie reckons that Damian Willemse will be better suited to playing centre and fullback rather than wear the Bok No 10 jersey.

With Handre Pollard, Elton Jantjies and Frans Steyn all currently unavailable, Bok coach Jacques Nienaber has backed Willemse as his playmaker on their end-of-year European tour where losses against Ireland and France were followed by a commanding 63-21 win against Italy on Saturday. 

In that game, Willemse was shifted to wing in the second half as Manie Libbok came on to replace the injured Cheslin Kolbe. 

Lambie, who played 56 Tests for the Springboks, hailed Willemse's efforts at flyhalf, but believes his kicking is an area where he should improve on.

"Damian's general play has been really strong. Defensively, he's extremely sound and physical and makes his tackles, gets stuck in and doesn't shy away from contact," said Lambie at the Gary and Vivienne Player Invitational in Sun City.

"On attack, he's had moments of brilliance too, great feet, good offloading game. It's just perhaps his kicking game where he needs to build up a little bit of confidence, which will then instill a lot of confidence in the players around him.

"That's certainly something that can improve and that he can work on."

READ | Bok assistant Davids confident goal-kicking won't be an issue in Kolbe's absence 

When pressed over where Willemse should play, Lambie believes he is better suited at centre and fullback.

"He's extremely talented, so he's good in all three positions. Perhaps with the way that he's performing at the moment, to take the kicking responsibility away from him, perhaps that means that he would be better suited to playing 12 or 15," said Lambie.

"I would imagine that he's doing this