Springboks could back youngsters against All Blacks — Davids

Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids admitted that they could back a few of their in-form young up and coming talents in Saturday’s massive Rugby Championship encounter against the All Blacks at Ellis Park.

This season the Boks have rotated their squad extensively in games against Wales, Portugal and Australia, but backed essentially a World Cup winning match 23 in their two games against Ireland.

But despite coming up against their biggest challenge since the drawn Irish series, Davids explained that the team management was happy with the growth of some players and they would be in line for selection for this weekend’s important clash.

Confidence in all players

“We have said this before, we are currently in the process of trying to build squad depth, but it is also important for us to try and win every Test match,” said Davids at a Bok presser on Monday afternoon.

“We are also looking to transform the way we play because it wouldn’t be wise to keep playing the same way and expecting a different result.

“So it is important to make selections that put us in a position to get the best reward. We look at the players’ current form, the opposition that we are playing against, and other variables that we will take into account when we select our team for this weekend.

“We are in a (good) position where we have exposed some of the youngsters to gain experience against top quality opposition and we will continue to do that if necessary, with confidence in the ability of all the players in the squad.”

Favourites tag

The Boks will also be heading into the game at Ellis Park at 5pm as favourites, something they don’t often do against the All Blacks, as they are the current world champions, number one ranked team on the world rankings and are playing at home, but Davids cautioned against underestimating their biggest rivals.

“We will never underestimate an All Blacks team. There is a massive respect between the sides, and they showed what they can do when they have their backs against the wall (by bouncing back strongly against Argentina),” explained Davids.

“They are mostly close games when we play against them if one looks back, and they always present a good match-up in all departments, so this week will be no different.”

With this set to be a repeat of last year’s World Cup final, where the Boks edged the All Blacks 12-11 in a terrific encounter in France, Davids said that they would have to continue growing and getting better if they want to keep winning.

“We achieved that (the World Cup) and we’re proud of it, but our goal now is to see how we can get better in each Test and obviously we’d like to win each one, so we’ll enter this match with that mindset,” said Davids.

“As a team we are very excited about the challenge ahead and we know that another good performance will give us a chance to take a step further to possibly winning the Rugby Championship.

“So we are not only excited about the match but also the young generation of players that are coming through the ranks.”