The Springboks in action against England in their end-of-year tour match at Twickenham last weekend. Picture: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
The Springboks are looking to close their international season in style when they turn out in their final game of their UK tour against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday night (kick-off 7.40pm).
The Boks have enjoyed a strong tour so far, beating Scotland 32-15 at Murrayfield and England 29-20 at Twickenham, but in both those games they were pushed hard and made to work for the result in the end.
They are thus looking to make it a clean sweep in the UK, while putting in their best performance against a struggling Wales outfit.
“We have been looking for a solid team performance. Last week the coach (Rassie Erasmus) touched on it, there was a time in the game (against England) when our discipline and the way we were executing wasn’t sharp enough,” explained assistant coach Mzwandile Stick
“We had moments in the game, like Manie’s (Libbok) cross kick, and Cheslin Kolbe’s tries, which were brilliant. But then there was a time when we conceded three penalties in a row and that kept England in the game.
“That’s not the way we want to play. We take pride in how we do things and discipline is one of the key things we focus on. So hopefully this weekend we can have a proper 80-minute performance from all our departments.
“We were happy to win, it’s not easy to beat England at Twickenham, but we are looking for that full game performance, with much better discipline.”
In all it has been a superb year for the Boks so far, with them winning 10 out of 12 matches, while both their losses, against Ireland and Argentina, were by just a solitary point.
They are up against a Welsh side that by contrast haven’t won a game this year, losing 10 straight matches, and could end without a win in a calendar year for the first time since 1937.
Despite going into the match as heavy favourites, Stick admitted that the Boks did not think of things like that, and were only focused on improving themselves.
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“Pressure for us as a team is what the Springbok jersey stands for and our standards and how we want to do things. There are a lot of things that we haven’t been satisfied with in our last two games against Scotland and England,” said Stick.
“We really want to improve on what we have done so far on this tour. The whole week has been about us, our standards, how we want to do things and go about our business.
“So when analysing a team like Wales we don’t have a mindset of us being favourites. We are taking this Test seriously and it’s going to be a tough one.
“Last week they had their moments against Australia, who started very well, but Wales managed to fight their way back. We have to be ready for that.”
With it also being the last game of the year for the Boks, with the squad only linking up again at the end of June next year, that adds extra motivation to the players and coaches wanting to finish the season on the best possible note.
“There is massive motivation in the team for this game. We have had a tough but good season so far. Especially if you look at the results that we have had playing against the All Blacks and Ireland twice,” said Stick.
“So for us we really want to make sure that we finish strong. Wales is always a tough team to play when they play at home. How we have approached this week is the same as every other week. But the key thing for us is to finish well.
“Because if you (as a player) don’t play well this weekend, you will probably feel frustrated for the next six months until the next (international) season gets under way.”
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