Boks face 3-in-a-row pressure
2008-08-19 22:05
Liam Del Carme
Durban - After two successive defeats in Tri-Nations rugby, the Springboks are under pressure to avoid an unthinkable third when they play Australia here on Saturday.
Two years ago, they escaped the dishonour of two consecutive losses when they beat New Zealand 21-20 at Rustenburg. Now they find themselves with their backs to the wall again.
However, captain Victor Matfield says pressure and the Springbok jersey are inseparable.
"There is always a lot of pressure. Naturally, we want to win. Therefore, we put ourselves under a lot of pressure. We don't want to lose to New Zealand in South Africa and two defeats are unacceptable."
The Tri-Nations title, even though it is far away on the horizon, also serves as motivation, he added.
"To play for the Springboks is always about pride. We want to win this Test. There is still a chance of winning the series and we want to be positive and play positive rugby."
If the Springboks have the opportunity to play positive rugby on Saturday, they will have to do better than they did last week.
"There were opportunities that we did not use," Matfield said. "You get only three or four chances. The All Blacks used theirs; we did not."
Worked on their shortcomings
Without going into detail, Matfield added that the team had worked on their shortcomings since last week.
"We have looked at one or two things where we can improve and we have started working on them in training. We hope things will go better," he said.
The Australians feel they have a better chance of winning in Durban than in next week's match in Johannesburg. Therefore, the South Africans should be prepared for a tough battle against opponents who don't always do well on tour.
But Springbok coach Peter de Villiers does not believe in singling out matches.
"We want to do our best. Sometimes we don't reach our goals. It will be disappointing if an international team regard some matches as more important than others. It's about national pride," De Villiers said.
The Wallabies last won a Test match in South Africa in 2000 when they beat the Springboks 19-18 in Durban. That was Nick Mallett's last Test as Springbok coach.
If they win here, the Aussies will have an opportunity to relax a little before taking on New Zealand in the final match of this year's series, in Brisbane on September 13.