Springbok veteran: ‘We felt the pressure against the All Blacks’
· The South African
The Springboks are heading towards what they will view as a shot at redemption when they tackle the All Blacks in Cape Town this Saturday.
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The weather forecast early in the week suggested it could be a wet-weather match, but it now looks more likely to be a cool and cloudy evening with little to no rain.
That will probably suit both teams just fine as the Springboks will hope to be far more clinical with their handling and execution, while laying a foundation at scrum time after seeing New Zealand achieve parity in this area during a dominant second half at Ellis Park.
During the latter stages of the first Test, Cobus Reinach was one of two Springbok players who received yellow cards as the pressure built.
“I don’t think they targeted us as individuals as No 9s, they went after our breakdowns quite hard and tried to slow down the ball with throwing their legs and other things” said Reinach.
“We felt the pressure and we knew we had to get the ball out somehow, and we have to work out ways around it. When we train, we try to emulate that, and try to figure out ways in which we can improve.
“They put us under pressure and made us do things that led to my yellow card, but it’s now up to us to work on that and see how we can defend certain things better or make a better plans,” he said.
“The review after a loss is never good, but it’s learnings, and as long as we take the lessons and grow as a team, we will be in a good place.”
Springboks set to arrive in Cape Town
The Springbok squad has spent the first part of this week remaining in Johannesburg, and will wrap up their main training block on Wednesday morning before travelling to Cape Town in the afternoon.
They will have their final training session of the week at Friday’s captains run.
The match kicks off at 17:10 on Saturday, and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry fixtures and results
- Friday, 7 August: Stormers 21-38 New Zealand, Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
- Tuesday, 11 August: Sharks 0-54 New Zealand, Hollywoodbets Kings Park, Durban
- Saturday, 15 August: Bulls 19-50 New Zealand, Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
- Saturday, 22 August: First Test, Springboks 16-33 New Zealand, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
- Tuesday, 25 August: Lions 35-41 New Zealand, Ellis Park, Johannesburg
- Saturday, 29 August: Second Test, Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town – 17:10
- Saturday, 5 September: Third Test, FNB Stadium, Johannesburg – 17:10
- Saturday, 12 September: Fourth Test, M&T Bank Stadium, Baltimore, United States – 23:00 (SA time)