Rugby: after the hammering, the Springboks look to bounce back
The Springboks want to forget the defeat to the All Blacks and focus on Argentina, as well as the approaching World Cup
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After the hiding, South Africa want to move forward. The Springboks, beaten by New Zealand last weekend against the All Blacks (35-20) in round 2 of the Rugby Championship, have a chance to regroup. They are preparing for their 3rd outing, against Argentina, on 29 July. Head coach Jacques Nienaber knows he has to rally his troops.
“The last two days have been very important in that we have had the chance to make an honest assessment of what went wrong against New Zealand and to identify what we need to fix in our game before our last match of the competition and the World Cup warm-up matches. We were bitterly disappointed with last week's performance, and we are well aware that we cannot repeat the same mistakes if we want to get our season back on track and build momentum,” he said after today's training session.
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The World Cup in sight
With the New Zealand game behind them, the Spirngboks will set about getting back on course. The Argentina match will be no walk in the park. It will first require ironing out the various problems seen against the All Blacks. “We did everything we could to find solutions to the mistakes we made last week, and we have already started working on them in our field sessions, so we can now put that behind us and move forward. When we come together on Sunday, we will focus solely on Argentina, so we will get back on the road from Monday,” adds Nienaber.
Meanwhile, the Springboks are heading towards a major challenge: the 2023 Rugby World Cup. It runs from 8 September to 28 October in France. South Africa, the reigning champions, will be under pressure to deliver. But with a squad weakened by numerous injuries (Kolisi and Ox Nché among them) and the heavy defeat to New Zealand, the signs are not encouraging.
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