Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Siya: Boks looking for more intensity
THE Springboks have “no choice but to be better”.
So says captain Siya Kolisi as they prepare to head into their Rugby Championship meeting with Australia in Sydney today (kick-off 11.35am SA time).
The Boks have been blowing hot and cold this season, and nothing has been worse than their performance in Adelaide.
They started poorly and while they created opportunities and also had penalties go their way just before the break, they failed to convert those chances.
South African trailed 25-3 at one stage, with replacement loose forward Kwagga Smith coming on and running in two tries in the final five minutes to make the score a bit more respectable.
Speaking during the captain’s press conference yesterday, Kolisi said: “We have to be better, we have no choice.”
“I hope that they don’t give up on us,” added Kolisi about the fans. “We have worked really hard this week and we definitely want to take our opportunities this weekend. We want to be as consistent as we can. We want to make sure that we start with better intent this weekend.
“We are hurting. We have worked as hard as we can to make sure that we are better at some of the mistakes that we made last week. We always point fingers at ourselves first.”
Kolisi added that they are well aware that their sluggish starts need to be remedied, saying: “We’ve addressed it in the week and we addressed it today again. Starting with intensity is a big focal point for us. We could feel it last week. We didn’t miss a single tackle in that first try, but they had more intensity than us.
“When we sing the anthem, all you should be thinking about is your first actions. That’s important for us as a team and it has been addressed really well this week.”