Aim is not to beat up England, says Proudfoot

SPRINGBOK forwards coach Matt Proudfoot shrugged off suggestions that the South African touring team wanted to beat up England 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 this year’s squad have not displayed the same uncompromising attitude as previous Bok teams.

The Boks did not 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 said.

“Every international team has that pride. 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.

“It’s a style we have played for years and years – and we have pride in the jersey.

“We take it as a sign of respect from the opposition that they are maybe worried about it.

“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,” Proudfoot said.

“You want to be as physical and as accurate as you can in the contact situation. You can’t be physical‚ but inaccurate.

“It’s a cliche, 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 referred to the Boks’ physicality often this week‚ and similar comments have come from other players.

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

“The games that we lost we were beaten up in terms of around the corners and they got the gainline easily and put us under pressure. I’ve never come off the field feeling there has been a massive gap.

“Just that we haven’t been able to match them physically,” he said.

Warren Whiteley agreed that the Boks wanted to dominate physically, but without the intention of beating up opponents.

“As a player, you are expected to bring physical intensity every weekend regardless of the opposition‚” the star eighthman said.

“We have a proud history of dominating collisions and we need that physicality every week. Along with the set-piece‚ you have to win the physical battle.”