Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth upped the ante and reminded all that would listen that while Friday night’s international World Cup warm-up is just a friendly against the All Blacks, it is likely to be anything but that.
The Boks are still smarting from their 20 minute poor start in Auckland and while the result of Friday’s match means little in the bigger scheme of things, it is something that they personally want to rectify before they start their defence of their World Cup title.
Etzebeth was adamant that anyone thinking that this would be anything less than a bone-crunching encounter between two of the oldest rivals in World Rugby would need their head read. While the teams are friendly off the field, when they get into battle mode, there won’t be any player holding back and thinking of the World Cup to come.
“You’re playing for your country in one of the best environments at Twickenham in front of 80 000 people against the All Blacks. You can ask anyone and they will give you the same answer - this is a test match between the Springboks and All Blacks.
“It is a game where you give everything and we worry about the World Cup after Friday,” Etzebeth said.
“For now we focus just on this game and hope it goes well so that it builds confidence going into the World Cup.”
The Boks haven’t forgotten their own poor start in Auckland where they could do nothing right in the opening stanza and found themselves 17-0 down. For that reason they know they have to be switched on from the kickoff.
“We have to be switched on from the start,” Etzebeth smiles. “They came at us with a massive start last time and we’ve been preparing to be better and get that better start. In those 20 minutes they were definitely the better team than us on the field.
“We have to improve all aspects of our game. We pride ourselves on our setpiece and defence and we want to be better at our kicking game and in our attacking plays as well. We can’t pinpoint a specific area, but we need to be better on all aspects of our game. We need a nice squad effort and while we can’t pinpoint a specific area, we can be better aspects.”
Etzebeth added that while some may think there is more pressure on the Boks ahead of their World Cup title defence, the Boks don’t see it that way.
The pressure, he believes, is what they put on themselves to live up to their own standards.
“Going into the World Cup there are other teams that are focused on winning the World Cup. While we won it in 2019 and some people this year say there is more pressure on us, and that teams will come more for us, it is more that each team wants it badly. They don’t care about us, they want to win the World Cup.
“So that doesn’t put pressure on us. It isn’t extra pressure but we do put pressure on ourselves to uphold our standards.”
The game will kick off at 8.30pm on Friday with New Zealand likely to name their side on Wednesday.
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