Canan Moodie is the latest Bok “rugby jewel” to have been extracted by Jake White, following in the footsteps of Bryan Habana, Frans Steyn and Schalk Burger.

Moodie made a try-scoring Test debut to the help the Springboks claimed their first win over the Wallabies in Australia since 2013.

The 19-year-old only made his senior debut for White’s Vodacom Bulls side in January 2022 after playing for the Junior Springboks in 2021.

In his Sunday Times Column, Mark Keohane hailed White’s ability to identify talented youngsters and help them realise their potential, as he did with World Cup-winning Springboks Habana, Steyn and Burger.

“Jake White, who in 2004 told his senior Springboks that [Frans] Steyn, then at Grey College, would be playing for the Springboks before the 2007 World Cup, last week also declared Moodie would play 100 Tests for the Boks,” wrote Keohane.

“White this year picked Moodie for the Bulls URC team and predicted he would be a Springbok before the end of the year. White, when he picked [Bryan] Habana in 2006, also said the speedster would play 100 Tests. Habana would start in 122 of his 124 Tests and score 67 Test tries in a remarkable career.

“White knows a rugby jewel when he sees one, and Moodie is a jewel.”

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