The boys from Gqeberha looked serious in this media interview ahead of their Castle Rugby Championship Test match against Australia’s Wallabies at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
The Springboks thrashed the Wallabies 33-7 in their first win in Brisbane since 2013.
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said the team had pushed their Brisbane hoodoo aside this week and channelled their focused into pitching up mentally and physically against the Wallabies on Saturday as they look to start the Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign on a winning note down under.
The Springboks last beat Australia at the Suncorp Stadium in 2013, but this statistic had little significance for Kolisi and Stick at Friday’s captains media conference, who said they were determined to build on their three wins in four Tests so far this season.
“This is a very important match for us,” said Kolisi. “We haven’t done well in Brisbane in the past, and although we cannot win the Castle Lager Rugby Championship here, we can lose it here (in Australia), so we have to do well this weekend.
“We’ve worked hard since we arrived here and we know what we are up against, so stressing about the record (here in the past) won’t help. Our focus is on what we must do on the field, and we know it’s going to be challenging.
“We are facing a side that are coming out to win in front of a sold-out stadium, and who will have a lot of supporters behind them. They also won against Wales and Georgia, and will it be huge for them to get a win over us, but that said we know what we must do, and we have played against some of these players before, so our focus will be purely on us.”
Stick shared Kolisi’s sentiments and said the Boks don’t focus much on records: “If we place ourselves under pressure because of that we’ll be on the wrong track. This week is about trying to improve on our game. So, we must pitch up with the right mindset, implement our plans well and be effective in our execution.
“As a team we want to win every game we play, and we want to do it for South Africa.”
Stick added: “A win is very important for us because we still want to develop our game and continue to evolve with our new coaches in Jerry (Flannery) and Tony (Brown).
“We didn’t pitch up in our last few games in Australia, and we cannot afford to do that again this weekend.
“They have a team boasting players with a great X-factor, and who are good enough to punish you if you make mistakes or don’t go into the game well prepared.
“We also want to build on what we did against Portugal (the Boks won the match 64-21) and having a few extra days in Brisbane helped us. In my opinion, it was probably one of our best training weeks.”
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (flyhalf) and Elrigh Louw (No 8) will make their first starts in the green and gold in the important Test and Stick and Kolisi backed them fully to showcase their skills and talent.
“We haven’t done anything differently with Sacha starting because we don’t want to place extra pressure on him,” said Stick. “As a coach, it’s great to see how the players help one another improve, and it’s been the same with Sacha, Manie (Libbok) and Handre (Pollard) this week.
“A lot of people see him (Sacha) as a very exciting young player, but we know him well having come through the SA Rugby structures, while he also represented the SA ‘A’ team.”
Zooming in on the talented young pivot’s skillset, Stick said: “He’s certainly a young player with a big heart and who pulls the trigger at times and makes big calls. He also doesn’t shy away from the physical side of things, and he can play No 12 and No 15 as well, so we are excited to see what he brings to the team.”
Kolisi, who guided the Springboks to the 2019 and 2023 Rugby World Cup titles in Japan and France respectively, was equally excited to Louw in action: “He had an amazing Vodacom United Rugby Championship season, and as a loose trio we want him to have the ball. He’s a strong carrier and he competes well on the ground, so we’re excited to see him earn his first start in the jersey this weekend.”
Kolisi also sent a special message to the women of South Africa on Women’s Day: “Most of us were raised by women and they should be celebrated every day, and as men in sport we can do so much more. I’d like to wish all the women a happy Women’s Day.”
Jigkraken
Sunil Gavaskar was out off the first ball of a Test match thrice in his career – Sunil Gavaskar was the first batsman to reach 10,000 Test runs and he ended his career scoring 34 Test centuries. But did you know he was out three times off the first ball of a Test? The bowlers to dismiss him were: Geoff Arnold (Edgbaston, 1974), Malcolm Marshall (Kolkata, 1984) and Imran Khan (Jaipur, 1987).
super flick
Run out is a method of dismissal in the sport of cricket governed by Law 38 of the Laws of cricket