Duane says Boks will bounce back
PLAN: MORE FORWARD ORIENTATED PLAY ON THE CARDS
The star No 8 said the Boks had made some changes in training ahead of their England clash.
Viewed as one of the top No 8s in world rugby, Duane Vermeulen is determined the Springboks will bounce back against England this Saturday after being put to the sword by Ireland in Dublin last weekend.
Vermeulen said yesterday from the Bok team’s hotel in London they had a good look at themselves and said even though the break after the All Black Test did them good, it also made them realise that things are done differently in the northern hemisphere.
“It’s tight, it’s a hard game, it’s massive up front. Our Championship and Super Rugby is very different to what we have experienced here. Up here it is more forward orientated, we actually love playing with our forwards, but it’s just a lot different. We made some changes in training, focused more on the forwards and hopefully we can show it on the pitch,” he said.
After being tested on defence last weekend, Vermeulen said Ireland asked some probing questions of them.
“It was tough defensively, two tries each way, and we want to get a team down to under 13 or 15 points, that’s our challenge and we couldn’t do it,” he said.
“We had to take a hard look at ourselves, at one another.
“We need to work even harder and rectify that before this coming weekend, and hopefully we can do a lot better.”
And while they had started the tour in the worst fashion imaginable, Vermeulen said it didn’t mean England are now a bigger threat than before.
“England will be very important, but we need to take it game by game. What’s in the past is in the past, we’ve got to work for this weekend and the next game is England.”