Boks won’t lack for motivation, says 2007 winner Jake White

Drawing on his experience of guiding the Springboks to the 2007 World Cup, Jake White says the opportunity to write a piece of history is more than enough motivation for the defending champions.

An epic showdown awaits as the Springboks attempt to retain the Webb Ellis Cup against old rivals the All Blacks in the World Cup final in Paris on Saturday night.

Should the Springboks come out as victors, they would become the first team to win the World Cup four times and defend their title for the first time.

‘Determine history’

During an interview previewing the final on radio station KFM, White explained how the Springboks will be motivating themselves this week.

“One thing I did was highlight how enormous the honour is of becoming a World Cup winner,” White told KFM. “Now, I think the thing is you have the opportunity to write a bit of history and you can determine history with your name in that history book.

“It’s one of those weeks that takes care of itself. There are not many motivational speeches you have to give. Just explain the magnitude of what is possible. More importantly, get them to be composed. There is so much emotion that is going to come out in the next five days. You don’t need to add fuel to the fire.”

Past matches irrelevant

Saturday will be the third time these two international rugby heavyweights clash this year, after the Springboks bounced back from a Rugby Championship loss in Auckland and handed New Zealand their heaviest-ever defeat in a warm-up match at Twickenham.

“World Cup finals are always hard to predict. There are not many that are runaway victories,” White said.

“We convincingly beat England in the pool stages in 2007. People thought we would smash them in the final, but we never scored a try and struggled to win until the bitter end when Frans Steyn kicked a long-range penalty.

“Whatever has happened before, whatever has happened this year or last year, 10 years ago or at the last World Cup, it’s all irrelevant. It’s all about what happens in those 80 minutes.

Boks v All Blacks

“We have got a team that is on the top of its game with a lot of experienced players. The All Blacks probably have a 50-50 squad with a lot of juniors and a lot of guys who are coming to the end as well. It depends where that graph meets. Are they going to catch us because they have a few more younger guys that are hungry? You always talk about young guys who have never won it, push themselves harder.

“It’s like a heavyweight boxer,” White continued. “The one who has lived in the Bronx and who never had anything is much tougher than the winner who lives in Hollywood. That’s the measurement for the weekend, for me. Nobody can call it. There is no bigger game than this one.”

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission. For the original story click here.