Boks seek to keep footing in potentially slippery encounter against Romania

It is in this epicurean stronghold of Bordeaux that the Springboks will hope to turn Romania into their hors d'oeuvre before loosening their belt for something a little more substantial in Ireland next week in Paris.

Of course you will not hear assistant coach Mzwandile Stick refer to Romania as a bite-size prospect; in fact, he is predicting quite the opposite.

“Every game is a challenge. I know a lot people try to focus too far. The energy has been on this match. We have to make sure we play to our standards,” said Stick as he tried to keep focus on Sunday's game.

“We always prepare the same way. It is going to be a passionate, physical game.”

Stick pointed to France's stuttering performance against Uruguay as an example of a team that potentially did not fully apply themselves in the moment.

“If you look at a game like the one between France and Uruguay, if you don't pitch up mentally and physically then it is going to be a tough day.

“That is the respect that we have for Romania. We know it is going to be a tough game.”

Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach is well aware of keeping up intensity irrespective the opposition.

Reinach scored the 2019 tournament's fastest hat-trick against Canada four years ago as the Boks romped home 66-7 in Kobe.

“It is still a rugby game,” Reinach said. “It is still a World Cup. It is like preparing for any other team.

“We have to focus on the things we want to rectify. It has been tough, training has been hard. You have to get the miles in the legs.

“We don't expect anything other than a huge challenge. They're a country full of pride — Romania beat teams with emotion.”

Those areas the Boks will seek improvement in are at the scrum and displaying a more ruthless streak in attack. A week ago against Scotland they conceded untimely scrum penalties and despite dominating territory and possession they failed to put the opposition to the sword. They found more cutting edge in the second half.

Stick wants the Boks to stay on the right side of the referee. “Discipline is going to be a challenge. The last game we played we only conceded seven penalties, which is a good record. We have to apply pressure and be physical.”

Physicality will be high on the Boks' list of priorities. After they lost their opening match of the last World Cup they unleashed their wrath on Italy in the next clash.

Italy's front row was decimated. The Boks will look for similar beautiful brutality at Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux.

In anticipation of the Bok assault Romania's coach Eugen Apjok went for a six/two split in favour of forwards on their bench.

“We expect a very physical game in the pack and we don't want to take any risks, so we have six forwards on the bench,” Apjok explained.

“We played the first team in the rankings last week and now we play the second and the world champions in 2019. We expect a very tough game for us on Sunday.

“We have prepared well this week and we expect our boys to do our best on the field and to get a better result than last weekend.”

Bok coach Jacques Nienaber referred to last week's game against Scotland as slippery and he repeated that description in talking up Romania this week. It's not just the Bok opponents that have been slippery.

The Boks are preparing for a greasy ball in hot and humid conditions. They have been training, even when they were in Toulon, with balls soaked in soapy water.

The ball was also greasy last Sunday at the Stade Vélodrome in Marseille and there were times both teams fluffed their lines.