Cheslin Kolbe expects nothing less than the all-out warfare that has become synonymous with rugby’s greatest rivalry when the Springboks tackle a fired-up All Blacks in Cape Town.
The Springboks are hunting their fourth successive victory against their southern hemisphere arch-rivals for the second time in history.
However, to do so, the Boks will have to overcome a trend of struggling when playing the same opposition over successive weekends.
This was highlighted in the July series against Ireland, when the Boks claimed a 27-20 win in Pretoria, but fell to a 25-24 loss in Durban. The trend was also seen against the Wallabies and All Blacks in the 2021 and 2022 Rugby Championship.
The Boks did show good signs of buckling the trend when they made history against the Wallabies in Brisbane and Perth in the opening fixtures of this year’s tournament.
“For us, we’ve struggled in the past when we’ve had two consecutive games against the same team,” Kolbe said. “Ireland earlier and then Australia, which we handled quite well.
“We are trying to improve and get that consistency, when we do play the same team twice. It depends on the team and the players, how well we’ve focused throughout the week.
“We know when it comes to South Africa and New Zealand, it’s always a war out there. This weekend will be no different. They are going to come out firing.
“For us, we just need to make sure that we prepare as well as we can and put ourselves in positions where we think they might try out a couple of things. It just about staying on task and trying not to think too much about it. We’ve trained hard, so hopefully that pays off on Saturday.”
The Boks set themselves up to claim the Freedom Cup for the first time since 2009 when they came from behind to beat the All Blacks at Ellis Park.
Kolbe, wary of New Zealand’s impressive fightback against Argentina after the All Blacks lost to Los Pumas in the opening round, emphasised that the Boks will step it up to go back-to-back at Cape Town Stadium.
“They have a good skillset all around the park and they put a big emphasis on a fast start, so it will be a big drive for us to start the match fast as well,” said Kolbe.
“They almost caught us out with that at Emirates Airline Park, but luckily, we managed to pull it through. So, we need to lay a good foundation in the first 20 minutes.
“In the past we also struggled to come back and finish games strongly against them, and last week showed the character of the group and the players’ willingness not to give up.
“We certainly don’t want any regrets, so we must make sure we do the basics well and execute our game plan well. Last week gave us confidence, but now we have to build on that.”
Photo: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
