‘Team effort needed to beat the All Blacks,’ says Cobus Reinach

Springbok scrumhalf Cobus Reinach says a full team effort over 80 minutes is going to be needed if they want to beat the All Blacks in their vital Rugby Championship match-up at Ellis Park on Saturday (kick-off 5pm).

The Boks have enjoyed the perfect start to the competition, namely two bonus point wins against the Wallabies Down Under, while they were also boosted by the All Blacks being upset by Argentina at home.

A win in this weekend’s clash would thus give the Boks valuable breathing room and would mean they can afford a slip up or two down the back end of the competition and still win it comfortably.

However, if the All Blacks win on Saturday it would see the two sides neck and neck heading into the next game in Cape Town next weekend.

“It’s going to take a big team effort (to beat them). We just need to go out there, do our best, and make sure we don’t have any soft moments. We must be switched on all the time and be ready for whatever they throw at us,” said Reinach in the week.

“Most of the players in their team have a unique skill of sorts, so we will have to be focused from the kick-off until the final hooter sounds. There have been times in the past when they’ve pulled a win out of the bag in the last 20 minutes, so it will take a full 80-minute effort.”

Exciting 23

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus named an exciting match 23 for the game earlier in the week, with two bolters in the starting lineup in fullback Aphelele Fassi and flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

Fassi’s selection over Willie le Roux was arguably the bigger shock, but Feinberg-Mngomezulu getting the nod over the experience Handre Pollard, who will play off the bench, was also a surprise despite the young flyhalf’s impressive form since making his debut against Wales in June.

Reinach says that there is no pressure on the youngster, despite this being his first game against the All Blacks, and that they have more than enough experience around him to help him out.

“There is no guiding him and no pressure, we’re all going to go out there to do our job. I’m backing him to go out there and do his job and he is backing me to do my job,” said Reinach

“Once you start focusing on guiding and helping a guy out, you forget about your own job and that’s the most important thing, that’s why you get picked. So, there is complete faith and confidence in everyone to just go out there and do their job.

“He has got the whole squad behind him and supporting him, he knows that we are all backing him and we don’t care if that mistake happens, we will fix it.

“We are a team, one man doesn’t make a team. If we all go together and help each other and fix where someone went wrong, then it’s going to be tough to beat.”