All Blacks will be ‘tougher with their own fans behind them’ — Boks’ Deon Davids

Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids was impressed by the performance of the All Blacks in their thumping win over Argentina over the past weekend and believes the Boks are in for a tough Rugby Championship clash in Auckland on Saturday.

The All Blacks clinched a 41-12 win over the Pumas, while the Boks powered to a 43-12 win over the Wallabies, as the pre-tournament favourites got their campaigns off to the perfect start.

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The winner of this weekend’s match-up will thus be favourites to lift the title, and both sides will be eager to continue building momentum and confidence towards the World Cup.

“I thought it was quite an impressive start by the New Zealanders,” said Davids.

“They delivered a physical and intense performance. Leading 31-0 after the first half shows how dangerous they are when they get opportunities. So for us it’s going to be important to look after our possession.

“We’re expecting a very tough, physical game from them. It’s never easy going down there, and with the crowd behind them, they’ll be an even tougher opponent.”

Plenty of confidence

The Boks are heading Down Under with plenty of confidence after their mauling of the Wallabies, but it will be interesting to see how the group that left on Sunday manages to acclimatise and connect with the group that was sent early last week to get over the jet lad and be in better condition.

“That process already started on Sunday when we did our medical screening on the players. So now it’s all about recovery and making sure players follow certain protocols so that they can slot straight into training sessions in New Zealand,” explained Davids.

“There are already players there who have acclimatised, so it will be important to align everyone in terms of our plans going into this game against a very tough opponent.”

Plenty of work

Looking at the Wallabies match Davids said the coaching staff was happy with the performance but that there was still plenty to work on for the players going forward.

“We were pleased with the performance. The guys hadn’t played in a long time and it was good to see them aligned so quickly and putting in such a good performance,” said Davids.

“Looking at the game we got good rewards, but we created a lot of opportunities and we could have used them better. Especially at this level, when you get an opportunity you need to ensure that you come away with points.

“You always want to have momentum at the start of the season and a good win under your belt. You then want to build on the areas that you were good at and make sure that you find solutions for the areas that you can improve. So hopefully we can do that against New Zealand.”