Boks seek double, All Blacks want revenge at Loftus
THE Rugby Championship might be dead and buried, but today’s Test between the Springboks and All Blacks at Loftus Versfeld will be all-out war.
The All Blacks wrapped up their seventh straight title with their win over Argentina in Mendoza last weekend, but they are still seething from their shock 36-34 loss against the Springboks three weeks ago in Wellington and will be out for revenge.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi says they are aware of the threat from the All Blacks but are equally desperate to record a rare double over their bitter rivals.
The Springboks last did the double over the New Zealanders nine years ago when they won the-then Tri-Nations title. The All Blacks have won four of their five Tests played against the Springboks at Loftus.
“They are going to take it up a notch. They’ve said it and made it clear that they are coming to win this game and get revenge. We don’t want to be shocked by the intensity and want to be ready from the word ‘go’. It is going to be a good and physical game,” Kolisi said yesterday.
The Boks will also find motivation in wanting to make today a memorable day for fullback Willie Le Roux, who will play in his 50th Test.
“The most important thing is we want to make sure that the same intensity we had two weeks ago is there, even a bit more.
“In that game, we weren’t worried about the result, we were playing against the best team in the world, and all we could do was give of our best. That is the same mentality we are going in with this week. That is what the coach has been driving, not to worry about the score. Just make sure you give everything you can,” added the Bok skipper.
Kick-off is at 5pm.
IT IS SO appropriate that Loftus Versfeld, in Pretoria, hosts this afternoon’s final Springbok showdown in the 2018 Rugby Championship. It is the Cathedral of South African rugby.
The All Blacks have already won the tournament, for the sixth time in the last seven years. They also won the World Cup in 2011 and 2015 in what has been the most dominant of eras the game has ever known.
Appreciate the skill and excellence of the men in black this afternoon. They are among the finest to have played the game. They’ll revel in the occasion, despite having already won the Championship.
Trophies are great but the All Blacks are defined by every Test match played. Each Test is a World Cup final for the men in black. Every other team remembers the matches won against the All Blacks. In New Zealand the most significant recall is the matches the All Blacks have lost.
And the most recent is against the traditional foe South Africa.
The 36-34 reverse in Wellington a few Saturdays ago was bitter-sweet for Kiwi rugby supporters. There was the disappointment of the All Blacks losing at home for only the second time in the past 58 Tests, but there was also the sweetness that the conqueror wore South African green and gold and not Australian gold and green.
The Springboks remain New Zealand’s greatest opponent. No team in history has beaten the All Blacks more than the Springboks. The past decade has been a South African rugby betrayal of that rivalry. The Boks have won just three from 18 but even in defeat there has never been an easing of the rivalry.
The two successive 57 pointers the All Blacks scored in 2016 and 2017 were an aberration of this rivalry. The average score in the Heyneke Meyer era (one win in eight between 2012 and 2015) against the greatest All Blacks team ever was 27-18. The 2015 World Cup semi-final ended 20-18. Last year’s Test in Cape Town was a one-pointer to the All Blacks and the most recent match in Wellington was a two pointer to South Africa.
New Zealanders want the Springboks to be strong because if the Springboks are primed it means the All Blacks have to find another gear.
South Africa, New Zealand and Wales are the three countries in the world where rugby is a priority. What defines South Africa’s rivalry with New Zealand is historically the results. Wales have the passion to match South Africa in what an All Blacks match means; they simply don’t have the results.
South Africans, in South Africa, don’t appreciate how New Zealanders revere the best Springbok players and teams. If you haven’t lived in New Zealand you wouldn’t get just how much respect there is (in a rugby sense) for the Springboks.
New Zealand’s back-to-back World Cup-winning captain Richie McCaw played 148 Tests and lost just 15. McCaw rated John Smit’s 2009 Springboks as the greatest team he has ever played against.
Another of the colossal All Blacks, former captain Sean Fitzpatrick, always speaks of leading the All Blacks to a first ever series win in South Africa at Loftus in 1996 as the equal of winning the 1987 World Cup.
There isn’t a bigger Test match than New Zealand against South Africa. Understand the history, celebrate it and respect it. Enjoy the haka for what it is today and actually appreciate the significance of the challenge instead of attempting to drown it out with boos.
This rivalry demands respect and not insult.