Boks must sharpen up on discipline, says Duane Vermeulen

Sharpening up on discipline and fixing aspects of the Springboks' game that did not go to plan will the focus in their World Cup training camp in Corsica this week, says Duane Vermeulen.

After thrashing the All Blacks 35-7 in London on Friday, the Boks flew to Corsica. They are based in the mountainous island southeast of the French mainland until they travel to their World Cup base in Toulon on Sunday to prepare for their opener against Scotland in Marseille on September 10.

“We made mistakes against New Zealand and there were a few things that didn’t go our way and discipline was one of them,” Vermeulen said.

“We got a yellow card and penalties can make you lose a game, so we have to sharpen up on that. There’s still a lot in the tank. All the focus [now] is on Scotland.

“We wanted to lay a marker going into the World Cup [against the All Blacks] and wanted to show each other what lies inside every person. We played for one another and it was a fantastic result for us.

“It was our biggest margin over New Zealand so it was a good one and good preparation — but it’s now just the start of the World Cup and hopefully we can go into it with a bit of confidence.

“We wanted to play a full 80 after the last time we met and the guys played their part. Our previous game against New Zealand wasn’t great and our first 20 minutes was our worst performance against New Zealand ever.

“They capitalised on our mistakes. In the week we’d worked on those small things that didn’t go well.

“This is one step in the right direction — there are still one or two little things we can tweak. The coaches are happy and the team’s happy with the performance and hopefully we can build on that.”

The five standby players who travelled with the team to the UK — Jean-Luc du Preez, Joseph Dweba, Handré Pollard, Lukhanyo Am and Thomas du Toit — have returned to their clubs. They are on standby should the team suffer injuries during the World Cup.

“The Corsica camp will be ideal for the players to adapt to the conditions in France while fine-tuning our preparations for our first World Cup game,” Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said.

“We reaped the rewards of spending time in Japan before the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and hopefully this camp will be equally beneficial in getting the players used to the climate and culture in France.”

Nienaber wants the Boks to work at improving their ability to convert scoring opportunities in Corsica.

“We all know there’s hard work for us ahead, especially before we go into the World Cup.

“In those first 20 minutes [at Twickenham] we had seven opportunities we didn’t use, we were tackled into touch twice and held up over the try-line twice.

“In a World Cup, where the pressure is greater, you won’t have that many opportunities in a whole Test and you have to use them.”

TIMESLIVE WORLD CUP BUILD-UP PROFILES

Pools:

Pool A | Pool B | Pool C | Pool D

Star players:

Ardie Savea, New Zealand | Will Skelton, Australia | Johnny Sexton, Ireland | Antoine Dupont, France

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