Only bonus point win will do for Boks against Tonga — Kwagga Smith

The Springboks are targeting a full house of points when they take on Tonga in their final Rugby World Cup pool match at the Stade de Marseille on Sunday night to give them the best chance to reach the quarterfinals, according to loose forward Kwagga Smith.

The Boks’ tight loss to Ireland over the past weekend has left them second on the pool B log on 10 points, trailing the log leaders by four points.

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Scotland are third on the log on five points but should be level with the Boks before their game against Tonga, as they face Romania on Saturday in what should be a one sided demolition.

Bonus point

The Boks thus need a bonus point win to move to the top of the log on 15 points, with them then having a bye the following weekend when Ireland and Scotland play each other to decide the final placings in the group.

“We know we need to get those five points, so we will go into that game with the mindset of getting a bonus point,” said Smith during a Bok press conference on Tuesday.

“They’re a physical team, so to play against them will be great for us to know that our physicality is also at the highest level.”

Disappointed Boks

Smith admitted that the team was disappointed with their loss against Ireland and that not taking their scoring opportunities and their struggles at the breakdown played a big part in their defeat.

“All supporters of the Springboks might feel disappointed, but we are also disappointed in losing that game,” said Smith.

“We had a lot of opportunities and we didn’t use those opportunities, which cost us the game. We take the learnings from that and we make sure that it doesn’t happen again because from here on there’s no opportunity to slip up.

“The breakdown was definitely one of the places where they slowed the ball down … those balls (that came out) one or two seconds slower than what it should be that takes away the opportunity to score a try or get momentum.”

High intensity

Although they are heading into the Tonga match off a loss, Smith claims that the team played against Ireland at a very high intensity and that is something they will have to carry into their final pool match if they want to get the desired result.

“When number one (Ireland) and two (Boks) play each other the intensity is really going to be high,” explained Smith.

“The crowd was amazing. It was great playing there (Stade de France). But for us it’s (important) to keep that standard and to have that intensity in every game we play. We’ll need that intensity this weekend against Tonga. Tonga is a physical side and they’re really hard players to play against so we’ve got to be ready.”