Ken Borland

Springbok captain Siya Kolisi has no reason to massage the egos of the Argentina forwards so when he said on Friday that their pack was similar to the one he leads it was perhaps the ultimate compliment. And an indicator of how stiff a challenge the South African team face in their opening Rugby Championship match at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium on Saturday.

Argentina coach Mario Ledesma has said this week that taking on the Springbok pack is the toughest challenge his forwards will face, and Kolisi returned the compliment by saying the Pumas pack was similar. Pablo Matera and Facunda Isa are world-class loose forwards, locks Guido Petti and Marcos Kremer can mix it with the best and Julian Montoya and Nahuel Tetaz Chaparro provide plenty of fire in the front row.

“It’s a big challenge for us too against the Argentina forwards, they are a very strong pack who pride themselves on mauling and scrumming, and at the breakdown they all get involved. They are similar to us and that’s what makes it so difficult. So there is definitely mutual respect between the two packs. They are a completely different challenge to the Lions.

“So we have done no less preparation for them. We have to make sure we can get our own game going, if we get it right then it doesn’t matter who we are playing against. Obviously Argentina will want to prove a point. We know the challenge they’ll pose – a strong pack with their ball-carries and guys really getting into the breakdown,” Kolisi said on Friday.

Several new faces have been brought in to refresh the team after their huge exertions in the British and Irish Lions series and Kolisi said they have an important role to play in keeping the Springboks in the number one spot in the world rankings in what will be an incredibly tough Rugby Championship.

“The guys getting an opportunity to play and Joseph Dweba playing his first Test are very hungry and they really want to play, so they are going to bring energy. We want Joseph, who I know is very excited, Ox Nche and Wilco Louw to take charge in the scrum battle. And myself and Kwagga Smith have played together quite a bit and we work well together.

“The goal after winning the World Cup was to maintain our number one ranking and consistently stay there. We don’t want to be once-off winners. We want to win more games and trophies, that’s how we will keep being number one. The coaches give us simple messages to play simple rugby, they want us to focus on the stuff that does not require talent and I love it,’ Kolisi said.

Anyone who watches Griquas play rugby knows that they are a side that may be a little rough around the edges but they go all-in with everything they do, and their high-flying third position on the Currie Cup log is the reward for their determination. Bulls coach Jake White certainly knows how difficult they are to tame even though he will be fielding a rejigged outfit against them at Loftus Versfeld on Wednesday afternoon.

Centre Lionel Mapoe, wing Kurt-Lee Arendse, flank Arno Botha and prop Gerhard Steenekamp all return to the starting line-up, while tighthead Jacques van Rooyen and the highly-rated utility forward Jacques du Plessis, who has returned to Pretoria from Montpellier, are on the bench.

“We’ve picked a strong team with a couple of guys coming back from injury, because Griquas are not easy to play against. Griquas are really enjoying their season, they’ve done phenomenally well and have had big wins away from home. Every contest on the field they go in with 100% commitment. They have good players who are playing well. My first game coaching the Bulls was against Griquas here at Loftus Versfeld and we were 10-0 down very quickly,” White said on Tuesday.

Both the Bulls and Griquas are coming off defeats last weekend, but the defending Currie Cup champions were probably more annoyed by the way they were ripped apart amidships by the Sharks in the third quarter, when they went from being 20-13 up to trailing 32-20.

“If you’re not on top of your game then you can be on the receiving end, that’s the fantastic thing about sport. If you’re not winning you’re learning, so that will be a learning curve for us. We need to understand pressure cycles better, we managed to build pressure but we didn’t seem to understand that we had the opposition by the throat. But you only learn to understand those things on the field,” White said.

Bulls team – David Kriel, Cornal Hendricks, Lionel Mapoe, Harold Vorster, Kurt-Lee Arendse, Johan Goosen, Zak Burger, Elrigh Louw, Arno Botha, Marcell Coetzee, Ruan Nortje, Walt Steenkamp, Mornay Smith, Schalk Erasmus, Gerhard Steenekamp. Bench:Jan-Hendrik Wessels, Simphiwe Matanzima, Jacques van Rooyen, Janko Swanepoel, Jacques du Plessis, Keagan Johannes, Chris Smith, Stedman Gans.

Q: There was a massive impact from the Springbok bench in the second Test against the British and Irish Lions, compared to the first match; how did you guys manage that?

LdJ – I think first of all, being injured for so long, it’s just a massive privilege to be part of this series and I was very happy to have the opportunity to get on the field. As forwards, we worked really hard on the fundamentals and our attitude, especially at the set-pieces. And we had six forwards on the bench so we were able to sustain the energy level of the starters and, if possible, maybe even try and raise it. We were obviously all disappointed in what happened in the first Test, maybe that was due to a bit of rustiness. But for us, the second Test was our last chance to show what we can do and we took it really personally. And it was not just the bench that did that. We were playing for our families and our country, those who are less-privileged than us. So that really fired us up, and not just the players – the coaches, the management, everyone. It was about more than ourselves, we were keeping each other accountable and that was driving our standards. The forwards responded well to the challenges we faced, standards were set and there were areas we improved on. We maybe started a bit slow, but we really improved as the game went on. Hopefully we can carry that same energy into the deciding Test, and we still have to raise the bar higher and set higher standards.

Q: The Springboks must also be very happy with their defence, having conceded just one try in the first two Tests?

LdJ – There are always areas we can improve but we have an exceptional defence coach in Jacques Nienaber. He is never satisfied and he makes sure we aren’t either. So we have had good results in the defence, but there are definitely areas where we can still make small improvements and get even better. Across our whole game there were things we did well and things that we didn’t do so well. So we are looking to improve all aspects of our performance in the third Test, even the areas we did well in.

Q: The second Test was a ferocious game, was there a bit more niggle than usual?

LdJ – There was a little more niggle than usual but that was due to the magnitude of the game. The Lions also have very proud, world-class players. But I think the match was even bigger for us because we knew that if we lose, then we’re done for the series.

Q: So what can we expect from the third Test against a new-look Lions team?

LdJ – It’s going to be like a final for both teams. We are feeling much more comfortable after getting the win, but we know the job is not finished yet. We know we must raise our standards still further to get the final result we want. As I said, the Lions are a world-class team and we know that we have to be at our best, we know that we will absolutely have to give 100% of what we can give. The good thing is we know a lot of their players and we have done enough homework, everyone is ready, and we have to be able to adapt. It’s a must-win game for us and we can fall back on previous situations we’ve been in like the World Cup. When we are under pressure, we can say that we were there before and we came through. The Lions are all world-class players, but the focus is on ourselves and our week’s preparation. We have to make sure our system is functioning at 100% and when you see the impact the bench makes then you know that we are all on the same quality level. The Lions’ changes won’t change a lot in our preparation.

It’s been a tough time of late for Springbok centre Damian de Allende, who has revealed for the first time just how bad the burn injuries were that threatened to keep him out of the Test series against the British and Irish Lions which begins on Saturday.

While with his club Munster last month, De Allende suffered burn injuries in a firepit accident involving petrol, that also injured fellow Springbok RG Snyman, Mike Haley and CJ Stander. Snyman seems to have suffered the worst from the mishap as he is still receiving treatment and is not part of the South African camp yet.

”I’m really grateful it wasn’t worse than it was. RG got the worst of it and I still feel really sorry for him, he has gone through a lot. It was bit of a shock, lying in hospital, on morphine and then when that wore off, the pain struck. And that’s when you realise how bad it was.

“Then it’s been tough playing two games in a week, but it was good to get some game time. It was tough emotionally to lose the second game against the Bulls, but at least our bodies and minds have now been through two tough battles in one week. I’m grateful too for this whole week to prepare for the first Test,” De Allende said.

And as much as Lions coach Warren Gatland was raving about all the different selection options his team had for the first Test in Cape Town, De Allende said the home side were delighted to have almost a full deck of World Cup winners to choose from.

“It’s nice to play again with all the guys, we haven’t done that since the World Cup two years ago, and it makes a massive difference. If we had had to make a lot of changes, then it would have been quite tough for us,” the 29-year-old said.

The same sense of unity and sacrifice for each other that was evident in Japan in 2019 was once again to the fore in the 10 minutes either side of halftime in the SA A game against the Lions, when De Allende and company repelled wave-after-wave of attack with just 13 men on the field. It was all hands on deck in terms of defence and they conceded just the one try.

“If you play at international level then that’s the work ethic and physicality that’s required. At the highest level, the pressure is always on, and when you’re on the back foot, you need to stick up your hands, work as hard as you can and put your bodies on the line. A lot of other teams show the same desire, but it was exceptional defence.

“It doesn’t just come naturally, it shows that we really want to work for each other and leave everything out on the field,” De Allende said.