Home

Boks confident ahead of clash with England

Reading Time: 4 minutes

There is a lot of confidence in the Springbok camp ahead of the much anticipated clash against England at Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

With the two coaches Rassie Erasmus and Eddie Jones trying to build formidable teams for next year’s World Cup, positive results will be most welcome by the two sides who expect to bounce back after indifferent results recently.

The biggest motivation for the Boks will be that they have never lost a test series at home to England. The Boks are certainly in a rebuilding phase under newly appointed coach Rassie Erasmus. The new coach has also appointed a new captain, Siya Kolisi.

Kolisi made history two weeks ago, when he was appointed as the first ever black test captain of the Boks.  New players will want to make a lasting impression, and cement their places in the starting fifteen. Three new caps will be in the starting line-up, including 22-year old wing Sbu Nkosi.

Nkosi says he is ready to deliver at Ellis Park Stadium, South Africa’s rugby home, which is where it all started for him a few years ago with the Lions.

“Very excited, I mean Ellis Park is a very special stadium in South African rugby, and it’s even more special to me personally because that’s where it all started obviously I played rugby for the Lions in my junior ranks so Ellis Park was always the one, very exciting. The fact that it’s happening now I mean the timing is perfect I am a more experienced player than I was last year in everything because I played more rugby. I’ve learnt some lessons along the way especially in this particular season, especially now that I am playing on the right wing so I think the timing is perfect”.

Nkosi says he is not nervous at all ahead of his debut, because he feels that he is surrounded by a capable bunch of teammates. “I’m not very nervous, I ‘am more excited than anything, I think I am confident in the players that are surrounding me and they are bringing confidence out of me. We are very well prepared, there’s a lot of attention to detail so I don’t feel nerves as of yet and I’m confident and excited. I feel like I’ve always wanted to, it’s very lucky I don’t think many youngsters get to play with their childhood role models”.

All eyes will be on Siya Kolisi as he leads to Boks team onto the field on Saturday.  However, Kolisi says although reality has hit home that he is the new Boks captain he will not be putting pressure on himself, and in the next two test matches.

Kolisi says it is not all about him, as long as the team delivers on the field. “I’ve been really relaxed I think the coach made it really simple for me, he says the only thing he wants from me is obviously to perform on Saturday. When I first captained the Stormers you know I preferred shared leadership you know I don’t want to take everything for myself. As I know that my strongest way of leading is making sure that I do well on the field so there are other guys who lead in their own unions who are going to help me through tomorrow (Saturday).”

Kolisi says he will not try extra-ordinary things, but will stick to the basics and continue working hard despite the magnitude of the game.

“Just excited just to be Springbok captain I think I know how big a task is of playing England that has been the main focus; the main thing is always making sure we perform on Saturday that’s what I’ve been working on mostly making sure we know what they are bringing. There is  new coaching staff,  we have to learn new things so that has been my focus in the past couple days so tomorrow (Saturday) will actually be the first time that everything just comes together for me and realising how big this moment is”.

Boks Coach Rassie Erasmus says they will give their opponents all the respect that they deserve, despite a spate of poor results. Erasmus says England coach Eddie Jones who is now under a bit of pressure, has a big potential to turn things around in the English team. Click below for more on the story: 


Author

MOST READ