England will pose ‘different challenge’ for Boks, says Davids

The Springboks are preparing for a different Test against hosts England at Twickenham on Saturday in their final match of their end-of-year-tour.

After starting with tight losses against Ireland and France, the Boks bounced back with a massive 63-21 thrashing of Italy, and they will now hope to build on that against England.

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However, assistant coach Deon Davids admitted that the team would receive a much sterner test against the English and that they will have to be at the top of their game.

“Overall from the Italian game we are happy with the result that we got and that the plans we made came off. That includes the forward play, backline play and team strategy. So we are very happy in terms of that,” said Davids.

“But we are under no illusions that it is going to be a big Test for us against England this weekend. We are happy with the past weekend’s result but we know that England pose a different challenge for us.

“They are an experienced side that is well coached in all departments, and we just have to be up for the challenge and prepare thoroughly for it.”

‘Something up his sleeve’

Davids however admits that the team has a good idea of what to expect from the hosts and that they don’t think there will be many surprises on Saturday.

“We all know that Eddie is a very good coach and always has something up his sleeve. But I don’t think there will be anything different (to what we expect) in this specific game,” said Davids.

“We just have to be spot on in terms of our focus in how we will react to the challenges they bring to our different departments, and we are prepared for a very tough encounter as always at Twickenham.”

Fired up England

England will be fired up for the match after their superb comeback against New Zealand over the past weekend, where they rescued a 25-all draw after going into the final 10 minutes 19 points down, and the Boks will need to be well aware of that threat.

“If you look at all of these games against the top tier teams the point difference is always very narrow. You lose by a couple of points, or you have a big lead and a team fights back. New Zealand have done that in the past and England were magnificent in doing that over the weekend,” explained Davids.

“So the big lesson is that it’s never over until the last whistle when you play at this level and I think both teams in their character and approach will fight right until the end. So you can never switch off or lose focus.”