The Springboks will be targeting a strong start to their end-of-year-tour when they take on Japan at Wembley in London on Saturday.
The Springboks will be chasing high standards and looking to impose their game on a tricky Japan side when the teams clash in their end-of-year-tour match at Wembley Stadium in London on Saturday (kick-off 6:10pm).
It is the second match of their tour for Japan, after they were edged by the Wallabies in Tokyo a week ago, while it is the first game on tour for the Boks, and with massive matches against France and Ireland to follow they will want to get off to a strong start.
At Friday’s pre-match press conference, assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said the team weren’t planning on amending their game plan for an attack-minded Japan outfit which likes running the ball, and that they would just be focused on getting their game right.
“The key thing for us is our standards and how we want to play the game as a Springbok team. We take pride in our set pieces, our kicking game and how we defend. So irrespective of who we are playing against, that is the key thing for us,” explained Stick.
“We need that good foundation to be able to get more opportunities later in the game if we are looking for more tries. But for us the main focus in this game is to start with good intent and pitch up physically.
“We know a team like Japan have many dangerous players and can punish you from anywhere. So whatever the conditions may be, we want to have a strong foundation when it comes to our set pieces, and we have to be playing in the right areas.”
Dangerous Japan
Stick explained that their impressive showing against the Wallabies proved that Japan can’t be underestimated and that with a wily coach in Eddie Jones and former Bok stalwart Victor Matfield assisting them, they will be a dangerous team to deal with.
“You saw how they played last week against Australia, they only lost by four points. They played very well, they are a well organised team and they also have a good coaching staff,” said Stick.
“So we know it’s going to be a tough one. They also want to win. But we also want to have a good start to our tour. It is going to be a long tour and we can’t ask for any better team than Japan to start off against.
“They are a well coached team with Eddie Jones. Victor Matfield is also helping them out and he is probably going to teach them some Afrikaans words. So it is going to be a tricky one.
“But on our side we have a couple of players who play in Japan. They understand their players very well and then we also went deep into their profiles because they have very dangerous backline players. But it’s been a great week prep-wise for us and we are ready for the game.”
