Allout war not in the Boks script

SPRINGBOK forward coach Matt Proudfoot shrugged off suggestions that the tourists wanted to “beat England up” when the sides clash at Twickenham on Saturday.

In a familiar narrative before matches against England‚ much of the talk coming from camp England has been about the Boks’ physicality even though the 2016 squad have not displayed the same uncompromising attitude as previous Bok teams.

The Boks didn’t shy away from the fact that they need to be powerful in contact‚ but ignored suggestions that their sole intention was to ‘beat up’ England.

“Physicality is a pride thing‚” Proudfoot.

“We have had a couple of setbacks this year that we’re not proud of and we want to respond positively.

“Every Test is about two teams slogging against each other‚ looking for inches and where they can crack the other team.

“We take it as a sign of respect from the opposition that they are focusing on what we do and are maybe worried about it.

“But every team has a plan and we have a new team‚ which we are trying to align to our vision. We are not focused on ‘beating up’ another team.

“You want to be as physical and as accurate as you can in the contact situation.

“It’s a cliché but if you turn up with the correct intensity‚ you can beat anybody. Ireland showed that [by beating the All Blacks 40-29 last weekend].”

England scrumhalf Ben Youngs referenced the Bok physicality often earlier in the week‚ and similar comments have come from other players.

“Whenever I have played them I have never felt that we have been outclassed. More physically beaten up‚” Youngs‚ who has lost in all five of his appearances against the Boks‚ said.

“The games that we lost we got beaten up in terms of around the corners and they got the gainline easily and put us under pressure.”

Whiteley agreed that the Boks want to dominate physically but without the intention of ‘beating’ opponents up.

“We have a proud history of dominating collisions and we need to bring that physicality every weekend. Along with the setpiece‚ you have to win the physical battle,” said Whitely. — TMG Digital said