Preparations for South Africa’s much anticipated Rugby Championship clash against arch-rivals New Zealand began in all earnest today, with both teams looking for an edge over their opponents come Saturday. The Springboks are brimming with confidence after consecutive victories in Australia, while the All Blacks bounced back impressively against Argentina after a surprise loss to the Pumas in Wellington in round one of the Championship.
The Springboks can rightly claim the inside lane to this season’s Rugby Championship after the team’s performance against the Wallabies. Not only did the South Africans win convincingly, they also did it by giving a whole host of inexperienced players a chance to show if they have what it takes.
The All Blacks, featuring a new coaching set-up, are also trying a few different and new things, and Springbok center Jesse Kriel believes the team that can settle the fastest will come out on top this Saturday. I think we also have a lot of changes; I mean last week, we played a lot of new guys so both teams are on a similar path and New Zealand also have a lot of players coming in so at the end of the day it will be who can adapt first and prepare the best.”
The scrums in the final match against the Wallabies were uncontested for a big part of the game. The Springboks still won in spite of this, but this set-piece is a big weapon for the Boks especially against the All Blacks. And loose-head prop Gerhard Steenekamp says there’s no need for extra motivation when preparing for the challenge.
“I don’t think I need more fire under me, it’s a massive privilege to be with guys that I’ve looked up to in the provincial game and now being able to train and learn from them and that is exactly what I want to do is learn from them, The Springboks team to face New Zealand will probably have a number of changes from the one that played the Wallabies in Perth and will be announced on Tuesday.
Source: eNCA
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