Boks will need A-game to beat gutsy Wales — Deon Davids

Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids says the world champions will not be underestimating a dreadfully out of form Wales team, and will have to bring their A game to pick up a win in their final end-of-year-tour match in Cardiff on Saturday night.

The two teams head into the contest in wildly different form, with the Boks having won 10 of their 12 matches this year, while the Welsh have lost 11 straight games, 10 this year, and a loss against the visitors will condemn them to their first year without a win since 1937.

Despite their struggles, Davids claims that Wales are always a strong team at home, and that they showed guts in their record 52-20 defeat against the Wallabies over the past weekend, so the Boks will have to be at their best to get a result.

Gutsy team

“Wales showed against Australia what a gutsy team they are because although they started the match slowly, the players showed a lot of effort to fight back strongly before Australia pulled away in the end,” said Davids.

“Their scrums were good, and they are a physical side with good structures. They may not be in a good place (due to their losing streak), but we respect them as a team, and they’ve proven against us in the past that they are one of those sides that just don’t go away.

“We are going to have to bring our A-game to ensure that we get a good result here. We approach every Test match with pride and a lot of respect for our opponents and it won’t be any different this week.

“We will be focusing on ourselves as we have identified a lot of areas where we can be much better and that will be our key focus going into this match.”

Gerhard Steenekamp

Prop Gerhard Steenekamp, who looks set to get his first start of the tour after coming off the bench against Scotland and England, has been enjoying his experience with the Boks and is hoping to end off on a high.

“This is my first end-of-year-tour and it’s been an amazing experience. I’m trying to learn as much as I can every day, and it is a massive honour to play with some of the best players in the world,” said Steenekamp.

“It still feels like a dream. But I am trying to take in as much as I can, get better every day and chase the guys above me.

“Every player in the squad has high standards, so for me the biggest thing has been making sure that I keep up with them. A team is only as strong as their weakest link, so I am trying to get where those players are and give something back to the team.”