Makazole Mapimpi said the Springboks will have a keen eye on Scotland’s South African flyer Duhan van der Merwe when the teams clash at Murrayfield on Sunday.
Rassie Erasmus’ charges are in Edinburgh preparing to face their 2023 Rugby World Cup pool rivals for the first time since the international spectacle in France last year.
They will wrap up their main training block in Edinburgh later on Thursday and Mapimpi – one of the wing options for Sunday’s showdown – echoed his teammates’ sentiments throughout the week that they were bracing themselves for a challenging duel against Scotland.
The hosts, currently ranked seventh in the world, will be going into the clash with confidence after last week’s morale-boosting victory over Fiji.
“Duhan has been playing good rugby,” said Mapimpi. “I’ve been watching him play for Edinburgh in the Vodacom URC, and we’ve faced one another a few times. He’s definitely a great player.”
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The Bok speedster was pleased with the work the team has put in on the training field since assembling close to two weeks ago and said their preparations have been going well: “We had a good training week in Jersey, and it’s also been going well so far in Edinburgh this week, so we are really looking forward to the weekend.”
When quizzed about scoring two tries the last time the Boks visited Edinburgh in 2021, which South Africa won 30-15, the two-time World Cup winner was diplomatic in his response.
“That was three years ago, so it doesn’t have much significance for me going into this match,” he said. “Playing here is always tough, and it’s a little cooler here than in South Africa, which adds to the challenge, but we are excited about the match.”
Mapimpi admitted that playing in the URC assisted in building the familiarity between the South Africans and their opponents on their traditional November tour of the northern hemisphere, while he also drew confidence from the Sharks’ victory over the Glasgow Warriors a few weeks ago in Durban.
“It’s definitely a good thing for both unions [playing in the URC] and coming back to the Springboks that does give me some confidence, but we know it’s going to be a tough match this weekend and a different challenge all together,” he said.
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