Plans are being hatched by the Springboks to counter the All Blacks’ dazzling back division speedsters who will bring an X-factor element to the Test in Auckland, assistant coach Jerry Flannery says.
All eyes will be on Eden Park on Saturday when the Boks look to break their hoodoo of not winning a match at the venue since 1937 (kickoff 9.05am SA time).
Flannery, SA’s defence coach, said the Boks were aiming for consistency with an eye on defending their Rugby Championship title.
After two rounds, the New Zealanders lead the standings with six points, while the Wallabies are one point behind with five, followed by the Springboks and Argentina in third and fourth place on four points.
“It’s difficult to say how much more different our defence will have to be against New Zealand compared to what we did against Australia, especially since they have individuals with an X-factor, and we have to be prepared for that,” Flannery said.
“We went well against them last year, and we’re relatively settled this year, so there’s a lot of consistency there. That means we have to defend individuals.
“The All Blacks have also tightened up the way they play by mauling a lot more, and that’s going to be something we have to work on. From our perspective, our maul defence hasn’t been where we want it to be yet. They have really good individuals, who we’ll have to defend within our system, and their maul is going to be a challenge for us.”
Flannery said the Boks would need their A game to be firing on all cylinders to emerge with a much-needed win at Eden Park.
“I haven’t tracked everything since 1937 at Eden Park, but for us the important thing will be to go out there and play our game — Springbok rugby — and play our best game,” he said.
“We’ve been a little inconsistent so far this season. We’ve had some really good performances, especially against the Barbarians and in our second Test against Italy, but I don’t think we’ve hit the heights we are looking for yet, so we need to be at our best.
“We conceded more tries than we would have liked to in the first Test against Australia. We definitely overplayed a bit in that match [which the Springboks lost 38-22], which took some juice out of our legs, but we feel we have good plans going into the matches against New Zealand.”
Flannery, who won 41 Test caps for Ireland, said the Rugby Championship was a phenomenal competition with no weak teams.
“Last year, Argentina were the dark horses. They came out of nowhere and shocked New Zealand and beat us as well,” he said. “That element of unpredictability is part of what makes this tournament so unforgiving.
“Looking at last year objectively, Joe Schmidt had only just taken over the Wallabies after the World Cup, where they looked rudderless. So the Wallabies started slowly, and we benefited from that because we played them early in the tournament. That’s not the case now.”
Bok head coach Rassie Erasmus said Faf de Klerk’s late call-up to the squad was a precaution to cover Morné van den Berg rather than to replace hooker Bongi Mbonambi.
“Faf did not replace Bongi,” Erasmus said. “Morné van den Berg suffered a niggle at training, but he trained fully today [Tuesday], so he’s looking good.
“Faf was called up as a precaution. He is an experienced player and brings a lot to the team. In Bongi’s case, there’s an illness in his family, and he’ll join us as quickly as he can, but we have sufficient cover in that position with Malcolm Marx, Marnus van der Merwe, and Jan-Hendrik Wessels, who can also cover prop.”
The Boks are set to name their team on Thursday.
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