Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says South Africa should be judged on their performance against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship test match in Wellington on Saturday.
The Springboks showed some improvement, especially in the first half of last weekend’s test match against the Wallabies in Brisbane.
In the last decade, very few teams have managed to put the heat on the All Blacks, but Erasmus says the Springboks aim to be as competitive as possible.
“I think making it really a competitive match that you don’t know in the match which way it’s gonna go. We can win at the end or they can win just by small margins. We have improved you know so if we lost 57 nil last year and we lose 37/36 nil or 36-12 now then that’s not really an improvement, improvement is, it must be a competitive match until the last minute you know, I think that’s improvement,” says Erasmus
Meanwhile, thw Springbok squad will be announced on Thursday as the team wraps up preparations on Friday with the captains run at the Stadium.
Boks assistant coach Matt Proud -foot says the All Blacks have their own style of play, but so do the Boks.
The Boks will try and play to their strengths and keep the game under control.
“I think the test between south Africa and New Zealand reverts down to the basics, it’s really getting your basics right and having an opportunity to actually get the game going, so first phase is crucial for us in this competition so we have fantastic scrum-men that put them under pressure and they launch from their first phases there must an ability to control the phases then you control the game,” says Proud-foot.
