All Blacks first, then World Cup — Eben Etzebeth

Springbok enforcer Eben Etzebeth says the All Blacks come first before the Boks have to worry about the World Cup in France, as the two rivals clash in their final warm-up match before the showpiece event at Twickenham on Friday night.

With it being a warm-up and the fact that the World Cup is less than three weeks away it was thought that the sides might be nervous about going all out, with potential injuries and bans a distinct possibility in the match.

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But, Etzebeth firmly disagreed, explaining that their full focus was on Friday’s massive game and that they would only shift their focus after it.

“We are playing for our country in the Springbok jersey in a neutral environment at Twickenham, which is one of the best stadiums in the world, and probably in front of 80,000 people against our biggest rivals in the All Blacks,” said Etzebeth.

“If you ask any one of us (Bok and All Blacks players) you will get the same answer. It is a Test match, Springboks versus the All Blacks and we are going to give our everything to try and win.

“It is a massive match first and we will worry about the World Cup after Friday. We are fully focused on the upcoming game. Hopefully it goes well and if it does that obviously builds confidence going into the World Cup, so we want a great start and good game against them.”

This is the second clash between the two sides this season after the All Blacks claimed a relatively comfortable 35-20 win over the Boks in their Rugby Championship game in Auckland thanks to them getting off to a fast start.

Improve all aspects

Etzebeth admitted that the Boks will need to improve in all aspects of the game if they want to challenge the men from New Zealand for the win on Friday.

“We have to be switched on from the start. They got off to a fast start out the blocks (in the Rugby Championship match), so we have been working hard this week to try to get off to a better start ourselves. That first 20 minutes they were a better team than us on the field,” explained Etzebeth.

“I think we have to improve in all aspects (from the Auckland game). We pride ourselves on our set piece and our defence. We obviously want to have a good kicking game and have some good attacking plays as well, so we will be looking to improve on all of that.

“We will need a good squad effort and nice team work to challenge them. So I can’t pinpoint a specific area. But we are always striving for the perfect game, to be better in all aspects, and that’s what we will be looking to do.”