Debate on Boks’ style of play is not Warren-ted!

THERE is a vast difference between Test match rugby and Super Rugby, and talk of the Springboks adopting the Lions’ style of play should come to an end, according to Bok and Lions’ loose forward Warren Whiteley,

Whiteley has shut the door on the debate which has gripped the South African rugby public since the Lions’ fairy-tale run to the Super Rugby final.

The inspirational Whiteley has extinguished opinion that the Springboks should play like the Lions as they are two different teams playing at different levels of the game.

“No, there isn’t a debate. I mean it’s two different sides so I don’t know what debate that is,” said Whiteley this week.

“One team is playing at provincial level and the other the national side.

“Yes, we as players bring a lot of confidence to the Springbok side for the style of rugby we’ve been playing.

“There are similarities, but at the Boks, it’s a major step-up,” he said.

“The intensity and the speed we train at is at another level and we enjoy that as players because we want to push ourselves and want to be the best.”

With the Springboks’ Rug by Cha mpi o n s h i p opener against Argentina at Mbombela Stadium just a week away, Whiteley believes all the focus should be on how the national team will improve their play from the June Tests against Ireland and moving on from the Lions’ Super Rugby run.

“We are one now, so there is no more talking about the past.

“We are focused on what lies ahead and that’s the Rugby Championship.

“There was a change in how we played over the last couple of years.

“There was a big shift mentally in the way we want to play, the way we want to approach the game and how we want to shift and keep improving.

“It is the same mindset, that is the mindset from the start and nothing is going to change.

“We just need to improve and make good decisions when under pressure.

“That will come with time and in that Irish series, if you look at the first Test, it improved drastically along to the third.

“I feel we are going to keep on improving,” Whiteley said.

The Springboks can’t be f aulted for wanting to put together the basic building blocks of their game, but they will also have to contend with the passion and growing astuteness that Los Pumas bring to the international fray while having also to fall back on their strengths of being dominant in the collision and set-piece play.

“They are a team who play on emotion. Needless to say, they are very passionate,” said Whiteley.

“They’ll make a step-up now and we know how tough they are to beat.

Los Pumas, he added, “are extremely physical, they have a fantastic set-piece and they put your rucks under a lot of pressure.

“They are a team where, first and foremost, you need to front up physically before you can do anything.

“They will challenge you up front and we need to step up to that challenge.

“So it won’t be easy for us, but we are looking forward to that challenge,” Whiteley concluded.