Veteran centre Anton Lienert-Brown knows the key to victory for the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry finale will come down to the “small margins”.
South Africa and New Zealand will clash at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium, with Dave Rennie’s men looking to level the four-Test series and cap an eight-match tour on a high.
The Boks won successive Tests in Cape Town and Joburg after the Kiwis drew first blood at Ellis Park three weeks ago, but Lienert-Brown believes the All Blacks have proved they are not far off competing with the world champions.
TUIPULOTU: This isn’t a dead rubber
“We can all see it comes down to small margins. In the last two Tests they’ve had the rub of the green at that; they’ll probably say the same thing about Ellis Park,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“Even though we ended up winning by a big margin [33-16], it really was small margins, so we expect nothing less this weekend.”
The New Zealanders kicked off their tour of the Republic with a five-match unbeaten run that included a clean sweep of the Stormers, Sharks, Bulls and Lions, giving confidence to the new era under Rennie.
“We’d hope to get another one at least over in South Africa, that would have been great,” Lienert-Brown added. “But as a group, we’ve learned a lot.
ALSO: Rennie backs Love despite axing
“We’ve played the best team in the world in their backyard, and a lot of new players have been exposed to that kind of rugby.
“For a team that’s come together with a new coaching staff – I don’t know, we’ve been together for three, four months now – I think we’ve been building nicely.
“But we’ve got to put results on the board. The last two haven’t been what the jersey requires, so this weekend is extremely important to this group.”
The 93-cap Lienert-Brown, who will have played six times and started his fourth match in eight weeks on Saturday, also gave his take on his trip to Mzansi.
TEAM: Codie leads, Richie at 10 for All Blacks
“My experience with South African people and my time in South Africa is that they’re awesome people,” he said. “Even though you want to go out there and beat them, off the field they’re great humans.
“And obviously we spent 19 hours on a plane together, although everyone slept most of the time [laughs].”
Quizzed on whether similar tours should be more prevalent in future, the 31-year-old replied: “It’s not my job to figure out whether it’s feasible or not.
“But I’ve been around for a decade in this team, and it’s certainly one of the coolest things I’ve experienced as an All Black. It’s something I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”
Photo: Johan Orton/Gallo Images
The post Lienert-Brown plots Bok defeat to a fine detail appeared first on SA Rugby magazine.
Veteran centre Anton Lienert-Brown knows the key to victory for the All Blacks in Saturday’s Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry finale will come down to the “small margins”.
The post Lienert-Brown plots Bok defeat to a fine detail appeared first on SA Rugby magazine. Read More
