Forget Wellington victory — Marx
Imposing Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx has urged his teammates to guard against dwelling too much on the emotions of their stunning victory over New Zealand in Wellington three weeks ago when they face the All Blacks in the return Rugby Championship Test at Loftus on Saturday.
The Boks overcame heavy odds at the Westpac Stadium to hand the All Blacks their first loss at home in the tournament since 2009 but Marx, who played an important role in the 36-34 win, said that victory must be forgotten when they face the old enemy at Loftus.
“The most important thing for us is to put what happened in Wellington behind us,” he said.
“That victory was amazing for us but it is in the past and we must focus on how we can get better. We must try to correct what we did wrong in the last two matches.”
The two teams go into this match with the All Blacks having already won the Rugby Championship following their win over Argentina last weekend. But there is pride to play for with the Boks looking to complete a rare double over their old rivals.
ATTACKING GAME
Marx, widely regarded as the world’s best hooker, said they must forget about the first match and focus on their preparations ahead of Saturday’s showdown.
To overcome the All Blacks for the second time in a short time, they must improve their attacking game because they have been caught on the back foot a lot recently.
“When you tackle a lot, your body is going to be sore afterwards. But the medical team is great and they got us back to training on Monday.
“To defend like we did against New Zealand and Australia over the past two matches has been crazy, but we must improve our attacking game and keep on improving.
“In the wins over the All Blacks and Australia, we provided a good base for the backs.
“We want to attack a bit more because we were on the defence a bit.”
Sikhumbuzo Notshe is in line to start his second Test match for the Springboks on Saturday.
The No 8 made his debut last Saturday in the absence of the injured Warren Whiteley.
Whiteley’s availability is subject to passing a fitness test later in the week.
“We have sent Warren to do
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rehabilitation and we will make a decision on him tomorrow [Tuesday]. We will hear from him if there is still pain in his groin and take it from there‚” said Bok assistant coach Matt Proudfoot‚ who added that centre Damian de Allende is in the running to return to the squad after recovering from injury.
Proudfoot showered Notshe with praise after his satisfactory performance against the Wallabies in which he made 10 tackles before he was substituted early in the second half by Marco van Staden.
“I think he was very tidy. The first start can be a little nervewracking for a lot of guys but he has been around the camp for a long time and he did his job‚” said Proudfoot.
“He is more of an attacking player and we want him to play his attacking game.”