Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber says his team will be looking to “improvise, build and improve” in 2022 and that it would be arrogant to believe there were aspects of their game that did not need refining.
The Boks will host Wales for three Tests in July, the start of 18 games before they begin the defence of their Rugby World Cup title in France next year. Nienaber admits they learnt much in a mixed season in 2021 that included a series win against the British & Irish Lions, but a poor Rugby Championship campaign.
“It is a big challenge for us to still look to try to be creative, we can’t just sit back and say we know how to win Tests, we know how to win a World Cup and end the season as number one in the world [rankings]. That would be arrogant,” Nienaber said.
“We can now go back to what worked in 2021 and what didn’t. We didn’t have a base last year as our previous game was the (2019) World Cup final and it was difficult to gauge where we were at.
“If you want a disaster, then you fail to improvise, build and improve. We know other teams are chasing us and they are improving.”
The Boks did not play a Test in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and had virtually no build-up to the Lions series.
“We’ve had a fairly average season in terms of percentage of games won but the conditions we operated in and some of the victories we pulled off were very good,” Nienaber said.
“To beat the Lions with the level of preparation we had in that series and to perform well against New Zealand at the end of the Rugby Championship, which came after a 16-week secure bio-bubble, was unbelievable.”
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