Springboks target ‘momentum and confidence’ in Wales outing

The Springboks will be looking to start building momentum towards the World Cup when they take on Wales in their warm-up match at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday afternoon.

It has been an up and down four games for the Boks so far this season, with them making plenty of changes to each match day squad and testing different combinations, but that all ends now as they look to back their core group in their final two warm-up games.

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Bok coach Jacques Nienaber is thus hoping to get the best out of his frontline starters as they look to pick up some good momentum against Wales.

“In terms of what we would like to see from the team is that it would be nice to get some momentum going into the World Cup,” explained Nienaber.

“Obviously winning a Test match would be awesome for us because that builds nice momentum and confidence.

“But we want to build in all of our different departments and try to get the stuff that we have been working on right and build confidence ahead of the World Cup. So that would be our ultimate goal in terms of this Test match against Wales.”

Tough game

With an extremely tough game against Scotland first up in their pool at the World Cup, the Boks will be aiming to get two positive results in their final two warm-up games, although if recent matches are anything to go by the clash against Wales should be very tight.

The hosts have been in poor form over the past few years, but they seem to be hitting form at the right time as shown by their two strong showings against England over the past two weekends.

“What we will get this weekend when we face Wales is a nice physical battle. Our goal is to be in-form when we hit Scotland in that first game of the World Cup, because we are playing in a very tough pool,” said Nienaber.

“Wales have had some personnel changes since the Six Nations. Warren (Gatland) has been bringing through a lot of younger players, while there are also some older and more experienced players amongst the forwards.

“They are a quality team and you can see the energy in them at the moment. It is always a tight game between our two teams and we are expecting exactly that this weekend. It is going to be a grind and a proper Test match which is awesome for us.”