Fresh from a sensational brace against England at Twickenham, Cheslin Kolbe says the Springboks must be guarded when they conclude their November tour against a desperate Wales in Cardiff.
A try in each half from Kolbe saw the Springboks earn their 10th win of the year with a 29-20 victory against a desperate England side in London.
Kolbe, who scored the game-settling try in the 2019 World Cup final, once again haunted England, dotting down two brilliant tries, one of those from a Manie Libbok crossfield kick and the other from a midfield break from Damian de Allende.
“As a winger, it’s always good to score tries,” Kolbe said after the match. “But a lot of credit must go to the guys on the inside for putting in that hard work. It doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s what gives us opportunities on the outside.
“Sometimes the guys don’t get the recognition they deserve, but we know what it means for us.
An uber-clinical first-half performance from the Boks saw Grant Williams and Pieter-Steph du Toit join Kolbe on the scoresheet, but the visitors also had to produce a defensive masterclass after losing loosehead prop Gerhard Steenekamp to a yellow card for the last 10 minutes.
“I am immensely proud of the team,” Kolbe said. “We knew coming down to England at Twickenham wasn’t going to be easy. I’m just glad our composure showed at the end of the 80 minutes. Even when things weren’t going our way, we pulled together and found solutions.
“It wasn’t our best performance, but we will look at that going into next week.”
The Springboks will look to finish the season on a high when they tackle Warren Gatland’s struggling Wales in Cardiff on Saturday.
While Erasmus’ side have won their last two games against the Dragons by big margins (52-16 and 41-13), Kolbe is wary of a team that is on a run of 10 consecutive losses going into Sunday afternoon’s game against the Wallabies.
“To be honest, Wales is never an easy game. It’s always been tough since I made my debut in 2018,” he said.
“We know exactly what they can bring. They have a similar gameplan to ours and we know it’s going to be a physical battle.
“Wales are being written off, but we are definitely not doing that. We will give them respect and prepare as well as we can. In international rugby, there’s no walk in the park. There’s still a lot of hard work for us to do.”
Photo: Craig Mercer/MB Media/Getty Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
