Boks shift focus to Rugby Championship

The Springbok celebrations were short-lived after their historic victory against the British & Irish Lions on Saturday evening as Jacques Nienaber’s charges hit the training pitch again on Monday in preparation for their Rugby Championship opener against Argentina this coming weekend. 

The Boks will be smiling at the winning momentum they have gathered over the past month. When one considers the situation holistically, it was a remarkable achievement by the men in green who came into the series against the best of Britain and Ireland woefully undercooked after minimal match practice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. However, they now find themselves at the foot of a new mountain which needs climbing. 

“We really enjoyed winning the series against the British & Irish Lions and we celebrated the win on Saturday night, but with the level of professionalism in the squad we were able to quickly shift our focus to the next task,” said forwards coach Deon Davids. 

“We started full-out on the Rugby Championship preparations today (on Monday) and went through what we can expect from Argentina, so this is a normal Test week for us, and we’ll prepare accordingly. 

“The players understand the importance of going into this competition. We are the defending champions, and we’d like to retain the title. 

“So, it’s not a matter of motivating the team. They want to do well and win the competition, and the players are ready and have the right mindset going into the tournament.” 

Springbok hooker Malcolm Marx’s views dovetailed with those of Davids’. 

“It was an amazing feeling and an unbelievable experience for us as a team and for the country to win the Castle Lager Lions Series, but we need to move onto the next competition, so our focus now is on the first Test against Argentina,” he said. 

“There are a few sore bodies as there usually is after any Test match, but we have to keep going and we are looking forward to the next challenge.” 

Davids continued: 

“We are only one-third into our season, and we are making the switch from a very competitive Lions Series into another testing competition. 

“We’ll take into consideration the players’ performances, work load, injuries, as well as our player rotation system when we make the final decision on the team that will play this weekend. 

“I’m very proud of the players’ performances – it was a tough series against the Lions, and we were competitive up-front. 

“We grew as a pack of forwards from the first Test against Georgia, and there has been a constant attempt to improve ourselves. 

“The experience in the squad definitely counted and it was great to see those players assist the younger players. As a group it was fantastic to achieve what we did, and it was very satisfying.”