Nerves jangling in Bok camp ahead of crunch clash, says Rassie

Frayed nerves are jangling in a tense Springbok camp as the world champions prepare to turn the tables on New Zealand in the second Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry (RGR) series in Cape Town on Saturday, concerned coach Rassie Erasmus said.

After stumbling to a disappointing 33-16 defeat in the opening clash of a four-Test series in Johannesburg last week, the Boks are facing a must-win battle at the Cape Town Stadium (kick-off 5.10pm).

If the South Africans are beaten in Cape Town, they will find themselves in the tough situation of having to win the final two Tests in Soweto and Baltimore in the US to level the series at 2-2.

“I’m definitely nervous again,” Erasmus said. “We’re one game down, and if we don’t win this game, we can’t win the series; we can only draw it.

“Nerves are there for sure. But we’ve been under this kind of pressure a lot, and hopefully we can turn things around this weekend.

“When we reviewed the Ellis Park game on Monday, we felt we were very dominant throughout up until about the 60-minute mark, and we were just a bit inaccurate in a few departments.

“That’s what this week is for. Luckily in this competition we’ve still got three chance+++s to keep going and get our game better.

“With a lot of the things we asked the players to do, they did. The plan didn’t win the game for us, but it’s definitely also not the players who lost the game.

“I’m taking responsibility for some of the decisions we made. We’re a group, but I think it’s a relevant point to explain why we lost, and some of it falls more on me than on the players, to be honest.”

Erasmus said Siya Kolisi has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered against Argentina three weeks ago and will start and captain the Boks on Saturday.

Kolisi will form a loose trio with Pieter-Steph du Toit, who was initially named as captain in the Test in which he will earn his 100th Test cap on Saturday, and No 8 Jasper Wiese. It also means Paul de Villiers drops out of the matchday squad.

The Bok coach said handing the captaincy back to Kolisi was also partly attributed to reducing the pressure on Du Toit in terms of leading the team while he marks this remarkable career milestone of 100 Test caps.

“Siya will be starting, and he will captain the team,” Erasmus said.

“It was a hamstring niggle, not something major as he had before 2019 or 2023. It was a grade two tear, and it takes a little time to recover, and that’s why we’ve been cautious.

“Last week it was touch and go, but we told him he had to run full out on Monday and he did so on Tuesday as well without any discomfort, so he’s good to go.”

“Pieter-Steph just took the captaincy for us on Monday so Siya could fully concentrate on his recovery and his work, and I had a chat with Pieter-Steph on Tuesday, and he agreed.

“In this match you probably don’t want captaincy responsibilities, with the 100 to think about, and on top of that needing to play well, so Siya is our captain.

“The 23 guys who played together against Argentina played really well, and it’s not just Siya’s game that is good; he’s a very inspirational person who means a lot to this team on and off the field.”

The Herald