Nick Mallett pushes back on the narrative that Paul de Villiers is simply Kolisi's replacement, arguing the two are stylistically distinct — De Villiers the evasive, poaching type closer to Kwagga Smith, Kolisi the dense, counter-rucking ball-carrier. That distinction matters, because South Africa have long carried contrasting opensides to complement each other rather than compete directly. But Mallett isn't letting Kolisi off the hook either. With De Villiers having impressed enough to draw comparisons to Brussow and Kruger, Mallett's view is clear: Kolisi needs a genuine performance against Argentina to hold his place ahead of the All Blacks series. The subtext is that Erasmus's much-celebrated depth becomes meaningless if the youngsters keep impressing without actually displacing the veterans — and that squeaky-bum time has arrived for the senior guard.