Ox Nche and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are looking forward to the historic clash that awaits the Springboks in Bloemfontein on Saturday against Portugal.
The trip to the City of Roses, following the narrow loss to Ireland in the series decider at Kings Park, presents the world champions with an opportunity for an emphatic rebound.
Rassie Erasmus’ troops ‘won’ the second half in Durban 18-9 but a last-gasp drop goal by replacement flyhalf Ciaran Frawley edged the tourists to a 25-24 victory.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu showed his Test-match aptitude coming off the bench two minutes after kick-off for veteran fullback Willie le Roux, and the three-capped playmaker emphasised the importance of returning to winning ways with a huge performance.
“Coming on in the second minute was earlier for me than usual but it is what it is and I was there to do a job,” he told reporters post-match at Kings Park.
“It was a privilege to play so long on the field with great players around me in a proper Test match rugby experience.
“Extremely happy to be out there, but the result wasn’t what we wanted and it doesn’t really mean much to me at the moment.
“It was quite intimidating coming on so early but in the second half I felt like I eased into the match a bit more, and Rassie spoke to us at half time about what he wanted.
“[The Boks] mean a lot to the people of South Africa and the responsibility of wearing the green and gold jersey is a heavy burden, and these results aren’t what we want – we’re double champions.
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“We’ll start looking at the match footage on Monday but we’ve got a big Test against Portugal next weekend so we can’t dwell on this loss for too long; 24 hours and it’s back to work.”
Nche was named Man of the Match following a monstrous outing in the scrums against the Irish, yet the destructive loosehead prop isn’t resting on his laurels.
The World Cup-winning juggernaut believes the first-ever meeting with the Portuguese minnows presents the Boks with a platform to showcase their physical prowess.
“We definitely wanted to get two wins from two matches [against Ireland] so we’re disappointed, and to lose like we did is never a good feeling,” he said.
“Ireland seemed to have a better plan and were just up for more than we were. I think it’s a mental shift we had to make earlier in the game.
“Their aim was to just be disruptive because they know we’re South Africans and like the physicality. We just had to be more prepared for it like we were last week [in Pretoria].
“We did better in the second half but could’ve done just as well in the first 40 minutes.”
Photo: @Springboks/Twitter
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
