Springboks admit a shift in focus was necessary

The Springboks were well and truly humbled after slumping to defeat at Ellis Park in the first Test against the All Blacks, but in typical fashion, Rassie Erasmus’ team bounced back to win the second Test 33-26.

Although the All Blacks scored four tries to three, and had parity at the scrum, there is no doubt that the Springboks were deserved winners last Saturday after producing a far more polished all-round performance.

Reflecting on the change in fortunes, Springbok star Kurt-Lee Arendse admitted a shift in focus set the team back on track.

“We know the All Blacks are good at finding the wide channels and we’ve put things in place to counter that,” said Arendse.

“In the first Test we focused too much on them instead of ourselves, but this this time our focus is more on ourselves and where we need to improve, so hopefully we will manage things better.

“We work every week on ways to get better in defence,” he said. “We fixed up a few things this week that we lacked last weekend, but it’s something we work on every week to get ourselves better and prevent teams from scoring.”

Springboks preparing for another competitive battle

A passionate crowd of more than 80,000 spectators are expected to attend the third Test in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series, and scrumhalf Morne van den Berg said the Springboks are looking forward to playing at the “Calabash”.

“I’m very excited to play a Test in Johannesburg at the FNB Stadium” said Van den Berg, who is fondly referred to as ‘Krappies’ by his team mates.

“We trained there this week and it’s an amazing stadium. The whole team is buzzing and excited. With close to 90 000 supporters there, it’s going to be incredible.”

The match kicks off at 17:10 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.

Stats and facts:

Springbok record against New Zealand: Played: 112, Won: 44, Lost: 64, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 899; Points against: 2 328; Tries scored: 185; Tries conceded: 257. Win %: 39,2%.

Miscellaneous:

• The average caps per player in the backline is 52, the forwards 74, while the players on the bench average 28.
• Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok player of all time to 145 caps when he takes the field.
• The loose trio of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, and Jasper Wiese will pass the record they currently share with Francois Louw, Willem Alberts, and Duane Vermeuelen as the loose trio with the most Test starts at 17 – three more than Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus, Andre Venter and Gary Teichmann, who started 14 Tests together.
• Should he take the field, Deon Fourie will stretch his record as the oldest Springbok player to play in a Test match at 39 years by a further week.
• The teams have only met twice at the FNB Stadium in history in 2010 and 2012, with the All Blacks winning both matches (29-22 and 32-16).
• Jasper Wiese requires only two more Test match appearances after this match to join the group of players who have earned 50 Test caps.
• The Springboks have won six of the last eight matches between the teams dating back to August 2023.
• The total Test caps in the Springbok starting line-up is 958.**** There are 366 caps in the backline, with 592 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 222 caps.