Springboks coach gives blunt verdict on what’s needed to end world champions’ 88-year Eden Park hoodoo
Springboks assistant coach Jerry Flannery highlighted the importance of the world champions to be at their best when they face the All Blacks at Eden Park on Saturday.
The All Blacks have a fantastic record at Eden Park as they have not lost at the famous ground since 1994, but the Boks are determined to break a hoodoo at the venue as they last won a match there in 1937.
New Zealand will also host South Africa in Wellington on September 13 and both encounters will be crucial in the bigger scheme of things in the Rugby Championship as only two points separate the teams in the competition’s standings after two rounds of action.
Close in the Rugby Championship standings
The All Blacks are currently setting the pace atop the table with six points, while the Wallabies are in second position, just one point adrift, while the Springboks and Los Pumas have each amassed four points.
The Boks are aiming for consistency during the rest of the tournament as they try to defend their Rugby Championship title and Flannery is aware of the massive challenge lying ahead at Eden Park.
“I haven’t tracked everything since 1937, but for us the important thing will be to go out there and play our game – Springbok rugby – and play our best game,” said the former Ireland international.
“I think we’ve been a little inconsistent so far this season.
“We’ve had some really good performances, especially against the Barbarians and in our second Test against Italy, but I don’t think we’ve really hit the heights that we are looking for yet, so we need to be at our best.”
As the Boks’ defence coach, Flannery revealed that they are working hard at countering the challenge from Scott Robertson’s troops, who employ a fast-paced style of play and have several outstanding players in their ranks.
“We conceded more tries than we would have liked to in the first Test against Australia,” said Flannery.
‘We have good plans’
“We definitely overplayed a bit in that match (which the Springboks lost 38-22), which took some juice out of our legs, but we feel we have good plans going into the matches against New Zealand.”
Flannery added: “It’s difficult to say how much more different our defence will have to be against New Zealand compared to what we did against Australia, especially since they have individuals with an X-factor, and we have to be prepared for that.
“We went well against them last year, and we’re relatively settled this year, so there’s a lot of consistency there, which means we have to defend individuals, while they’ve also tightened up the way they play by mauling a lot more, and that’s going to be something we have to work on.
“From our perspective, our maul defence hasn’t been where we want it to be yet, so in general, they have really good individuals, who we’ll have to defend within our system, and their maul is going to be a challenge for us as well.”
South Africa had their second training session of the week on Saturday, after they arrived in New Zealand a few days ago, and will have Sunday off to rest and recover fully from their trip before switching into full Test match mode on Monday.
