Mohoje pumped up for compact defensive role

DEFENCE is one of the areas the Springboks will be hoping to sharpen up when they face the Wallabies at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria today, flanker Oupa Mohoje has highlighted.

The openside flanker put in a stellar defensive effort in the Boks’ opening match of the Rugby Championship against Argentina in Nelspruit in August.

While that was the best individual defensive performance of the season by a Bok player so far‚ that was also the last time the South African side looked dominant in defence.

So much so that the side went on to suffer three consecutive defeats on the road in Salta‚ Brisbane and Christchurch.

Mohoje believes their defensive woes are lessons his side have learnt from in the competition‚ particularly from their previous match – a 13-41 defeat to the All Blacks a fortnight ago.

“What we can take from the last game is to sharpen up our defence. That is what we have been doing this week‚” Mahoje said.

“Also‚ on carrying the ball we need to run more directly. Those are the things we took out of that game and we need to apply them in this weekend’s game.”

Discipline is another area the Boks will need to work on against the Aussies at Loftus.

Mohoje found himself on the wrong side of the law in the Boks’ surprising defeat to Los Pumas in Argentina in the second week of the competition. Most recently‚ so too did lock Eben Etzebeth‚ the latest Bok player to be sin-binned.

“Discipline is vital‚” Mohoje stressed. “Not just in this Australian game but in the whole tournament. It’s easy for another rugby player to get into your head. Therefore‚ it’s important for us to keep our heads.

“They will obviously try to get into our heads – we’ll just need to keep our composure and focus on what we need to do.”

Mohoje will be part of an unchanged forwards starting lineup‚ something he believes bodes well for the future.

Futhermore‚ the flanker is relishing the loose-forward combination he forms with openside flanker Francois Louw and Warren Whiteley.

“I think there’s a lot of continuity. We just need to grow together. The fact that the coach has selected the same group of forwards is really good for our growth and continuity‚” the Cheetahs loosie said.

“It’s been a good [loose-forward] combination so far. Warren‚ on attack‚ has done very well. Francois Louw has been pretty good at ruck time – he’s been our fetcher. The more games we play‚ the more we’ll grow together and the more we’ll achieve great things.” Kickoff is at 5pm. — TMG Sport