Kurt-Lee Arendse says the Springboks have put plans in place to contain the All Blacks’ dangerous attack in Saturday’s third Test at FNB Stadium. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.
Arendse will make his 34th Springbok appearance on Saturday, and he arrives at it with the same unbothered calm that has carried him through 33 before it.
Even with New Zealand’s dangerous wide game to worry about, the wing sounds like a man entirely at ease.
The All Blacks’ habit of hunting space out wide is well known to the Boks by now, and Arendse says the response starts with correcting last week’s approach.
“We know the All Blacks are good at attacking space, and we’ve put things in place to counter that,” he said in Johannesburg on Wednesday. “In the first Test we focused more on them than on us. This time we’ve focused more on ourselves, on where we need to improve. I think we’ll manage it.”
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There is one obvious change to his own set-up this week. With regular wing partner Cheslin Kolbe shifting to fullback, Arendse will have someone new (Ethan Hooker) on the other wing, but he waves off any suggestion it complicates things.
“The tools are pretty much the same as always,” he said. “I’ve played with different players before, and I think it’s fine, just a different number on the jersey. We communicate really well in training, and we’ll take that onto the field this weekend.”
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Saturday’s Test also brings Arendse back to a stadium with vivid personal history. His last visit was in 2023, for the Soweto Derby, and he expects Saturday to match it for noise.
“The atmosphere is going to be amazing this weekend,” he said. “The supporters who came out for that derby were incredible. It’s going to be the same this weekend, and we’re looking forward to that.”
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Asked the question every visitor to Soweto eventually faces, Chiefs or Pirates, Arendse didn’t hesitate. He’s a Pirates man.
Fitting, perhaps, for a player who has spent his career playing like a buccaneer.
Photo: Floris van Schouwenburg/Gallo Images
The post KLA: Boks have All Blacks covered appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Kurt-Lee Arendse says the Springboks have put plans in place to contain the All Blacks’ dangerous attack in Saturday’s third Test at FNB Stadium.
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