Scotland coach Gregor Townsend says playing the Springboks in South Africa is the biggest challenge in rugby. SIMON BORCHARDT reports.
Townsend’s men go into Saturday’s Nations Championship clash with confidence after opening their campaign with a 47-38 victory against Argentina in Córdoba that propelled them to fifth in the World Rugby rankings.
They now face a Bok side that battered England 45-21 at Ellis Park last weekend, although coach Rassie Erasmus has made 10 changes to his starting XV for the Pretoria Test.
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Scotland are looking to end a dismal away record against the Boks, having lost all seven previous encounters in South Africa.
“From our perspective, no one in our group has played South Africa away from home for Scotland,” Townsend told the media on Tuesday. “So it’s a unique opportunity for us.
“It’s obviously the biggest challenge in world rugby.
“Having watched the first half against England, they came out as if they’d been playing together for months. They’re a team that knows its identity. They’re very good at what they do.
“So it’s a great challenge, but also a great marker of where we are and where we need to go after this game.”
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Townsend believes the Boks’ unrivalled depth means there is no drop-off in quality despite the sweeping changes.
“They change their team pretty regularly,” he said. “I’m looking at the teams they’ve picked over the last six or seven games and it changes all the time. Often they change the pack during games.
“I’d imagine this team, or something close to it, has trained together over the last two or three weeks.
“They’ll be fresh, ready to go and they’ll want to build on what was a very good performance against England.”
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Townsend also dismissed the idea that veteran Handré Pollard replacing Manie Libbok at flyhalf would alter the world champions’ approach.
“No, I don’t think so,” he said. “The way South Africa play, I’d like to think how we play also factors into their preparations.
“But Handré has obviously played a number of times in that 10 jersey. He’s won a lot of games. He’s playing at his home ground. We felt that change might come.
“This is an opportunity for them to test their depth, give other players opportunities and freshen things up.
“We’ll be doing the same over the next two weeks [against the Springboks and Fiji].”
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Townsend expects the Bok pack to pose a big threat despite featuring five players with fewer than 10 Test caps (prop Boan Venter, hooker Johan Grobbelaar, lock Cobus Wiese, flank Paul de Villiers and No 8 Evan Roos).
“When I look through that pack, Boan Venter has been outstanding for Edinburgh over a number of years,” he said. “I think he’s done really well since playing for the Springboks last year.
“Johan Grobbelaar is an outstanding player and very good over the ball.
“Wilco Louw is a multi-cap Test player [29 caps]. And then you’ve got real freshness around [96-cap flank] Pieter-Steph du Toit [captaining the team in the absence of the injured Siya Kolisi].
“The pack has always been a huge strength of South African rugby. We expect them to take the game to us through the set-piece, their ball-carrying and the way they defend.
“So it’s going to be a huge challenge. But it’s one we’re ready for.”
Photo: David Rogers/Getty Images
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Scotland coach Gregor Townsend says playing the Springboks in South Africa is the biggest challenge in rugby.
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