Springboks eye history in second All Blacks Test

The Springboks are on the verge of making some history and will be targeting their fourth straight win over the All Blacks when the two teams collide in the second Rugby Championship Test at the Cape Town Stadium this coming Saturday.

The Boks triumphed 31-27 in a thrilling first game at Ellis Park over the weekend, which was their third win in a row against their biggest rivals, after they beat them 35-7 at Twickenham and 12-11 in the World Cup final last year.

It is just the second time since rugby turned professional in 1995 that the Boks have beaten the All Blacks three times in a row, the first time being in the 2009 Tri Nations tournament, and they now have a chance to pick up a fourth straight win for the first time in the professional era.

Guns blazing

The All Blacks will, however, come out all guns blazing in Cape Town, as they will be desperate to bounce back, having slipped up dramatically at Ellis Park after they led for most of the game, including by 10 points with 15 minutes to play before the Boks brilliant late recovery.

Coach Rassie Erasmus admitted that there will be plenty to work on in the build up to the Cape Town Test, especially after they conceded some very soft tries and struggled to finish their own chances despite multiple 22m entries.

“We gave them a couple of easy tries, and their turnover attack hurt us the most when our defence was not quite set,” explained Erasmus.

“But we defended really well when things were structured. If the All Blacks had won the Test then they would have deserved it. We know the result could have gone the other way, we could easily have lost. But our character was there.”

Thanks to the Wallabies upsetting Argentina 20-19 in their match-up in La Plata, the Boks are comfortably top of the Rugby Championship log on 14 points, followed by the All Blacks on six, Los Pumas on five and Australia on four.

Squad rotation

It will thus be interesting to see if the Boks decide to rotate their squad significantly for the coming match, as they have been doing constantly this season.

Bok captain Siya Kolisi could also be ruled out of the game, with an expected facial fracture, and Kurt-Lee Arendse left the field in the second half with concussion, so will also be in doubt.

The Boks inexperienced players, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Aphelele Fassi, Ruan Nortje and Ben-Jason Dixon all impressed as well, so we will have to see if they are given the chance to build some momentum.

“We wanted to see how the newer players could handle the occasion and the pressure and Aphelele Fassi came through with flying colours,” said Erasmus.

“Sacha came through as well. But that’s not to say that Handre (Pollard) is out of it or that Manie (Libbok) is out of it. We’re going to keep on building the squad.

“To play New Zealand is big and to beat New Zealand is big. For players to step up against Tier One nations like Ireland and against an amazing New Zealand team is really good for our long-term plans.”