Springboks to continue building towards the ‘bigger picture’, says Davids

The Springboks are looking to pick up where they left off after a strong performance in their series deciding match against Wales in Cape Town in mid-July, when they welcome the All Blacks to the Mbombela Stadium this weekend.

The 30-14 third Test win over Wales, which could have been even bigger, sealed a 2-1 series win and signalled a significant uptick from the opening match of the series, and they will want to continue building on that as they move into the Rugby Championship.

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“After the Welsh series we took a short break and then gathered at a preparation camp where we revisited our performances against Wales over the three Tests,” explained assistant coach Deon Davids.

“We looked at areas where we felt things went well and also looked at things that we need to improve on in our game. So we assessed that and have done a thorough review and our training sessions were based on improving those areas.

“We are very honest in where we think we are in different departments and how we can improve in terms of that. So for us it’s always a challenge going forward to take it tournament by tournament and game by game as we build towards the bigger picture.”

Stiff challenge

With two matches against the All Blacks to kick-off the Rugby Championship, the Springboks couldn’t have asked for a stiffer challenge to get their 2022 campaign under way.

We are very realistic in terms of the big challenge that lies ahead of us having New Zealand here at the start of the Rugby Championship and we have to be much better in terms of where we were (against Wales),” admitted Davids.

“We would like to improve your execution in terms of our set piece and the way that we get out of your own half with our kicking game.

“We also need to make sure that if we get any opportunities, which you don’t often get at Test level, that we convert them. In all we have been very task based and focused on what we need to do.”