Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has warned that Scotland will present a tougher challenge than England. CLINTON VAN DER BERG reports.
Stick pointed to Scotland’s win over Argentina in Córdoba last week and a settled spine that has been playing together for years.
“I think they will be a better team, in the sense of where they are,” he said on Friday. “They‘ve just beaten Argentina in Argentina, and that’s not easy. The majority of those players have been playing together as a team.”
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Stick said South Africa‘s past meetings with Scotland have often been far closer than the final scorelines suggested.
“Even the games we‘ve played against them before, the first 60 minutes are always tight. Sometimes if you look at the full-time score, it looks like it was an easy game for us. No, we had to make sure we performed well against them.”
Stick pointed specifically to the cohesion in Scotland‘s spine, with Finn Russell closing in on 100 Test caps alongside long-standing combinations at scrumhalf and centre.
“I think they will be a better and a tougher team, a bigger challenge.”
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Stick‘s read on Scotland‘s attacking identity is coloured by a personal connection: he played alongside current Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend during their time together at the Sharks, giving him early insight into the expansive, ball-in-hand philosophy now stamped on the Scottish team.
Stick described that style as a love of “beautiful rugby,” built around shifting the ball to the wider channels rather than contesting territory through the forwards.
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On Rassie Erasmus, Stick was similarly effusive, describing a coach who combines sharp tactical thinking with an unusual lack of ego for someone in his position.
“He‘s got brains, he works hard and he understands what he wants to achieve,” Stick said. “One thing I enjoy is that Rassie is not scared to be wrong. If Pieter-Steph [du Toit] says something is the best plan for the team, he‘ll go with it. He doesn‘t have ego.”
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Stick said that humility extends to how Erasmus treats the wider group.
“He‘s one of the humble human beings. He respects the people around him, and he wants to empower people around him. Sometimes we go through tough times, but there‘s one thing I know: he‘s got my back.”
With Erasmus closing in on a coaching milestone this weekend – it will be his record 55th Test as head coach – Stick said the group is determined to deliver a performance to match the occasion against a Scotland side he expects to be South Africa‘s stiffest test yet this season.
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Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick has warned that Scotland will present a tougher challenge than England.
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