Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks won’t get carried away by their previous success against the All Blacks ahead of Saturday’s opening Test at Ellis Park.
The last time the two great rivals met was in Wellington last year, when the Boks turned around a narrow defeat in Auckland to beat the All Blacks 43-10.
Erasmus, though, insists the only result that matters is the one that will be decided on Saturday.
“I see a lot of people quoting stats of how many wins and how many losses,” Erasmus said after naming the Bok team on Thursday.
“It’s your last game that counts, and our last game is not the game we played in Wellington, it’s the game we’re playing on Saturday.
“We won’t be stupid enough to think it’ll be that easy.”
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Erasmus was also expecting a fascinating battle in the air and at the lineout, with the All Blacks boasting plenty of height in their pack.
However, the Bok coach believes South Africa have enough height of their own and says the outcome will come down to execution.
“Pieter-Steph [du Toit] is pretty tall, Eben [Etzebeth] is pretty tall, Ruan [Nortjé] is pretty tall, so I think we’re just as tall as them,” he said.
“It’s more about how in sync you can be on the attacking lineouts when we have the ball and how we can disrupt them.”
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Erasmus also singled out an intriguing tactic in the All Blacks’ back three, with their wingers dropping back to field kicks rather than moving forward.
“I think they’re wonderful,” he said. “They’ve got this new thing where the wingers run back to catch the ball and I think it’s a wonderful bit of innovation. I think it’s very clever.
“Obviously we will look around a few opportunities of how we can counter that, but it’s a good plan.”
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Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
The post Rassie: Forget Wellington, only Saturday counts appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Rassie Erasmus says the Springboks won’t get carried away by their previous success against the All Blacks ahead of Saturday’s opening Test at Ellis Park.
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