Springboks target win over tricks in Georgian Test – Mzwandile Stick

The Springboks will be focusing on the win before unveiling any new tricks, according to assistant coach Mzwandile Stick, when they take on Georgia in their final incoming series match of the season at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday (kick-off 5.10pm).

The Boks have enjoyed a solid start to the season, with a 54-7 win over the invitational Barbarians in Cape Town and a 42-24 win over Italy at Loftus, before they unveiled a full bag of tricks in their entertaining 45-0 thrashing of the Italians in the second Test in Gqeberha over the past weekend.

The match has become a major talking point in World Rugby, after the Boks unleashed two new trick plays, the short kick-off and the midfield “fake lineout” maul, which has garnered much attention, mostly positive from in South Africa and mostly negative from outside.

With the Boks having a final chance to try out some new moves against Tier 2 Georgia this weekend, Stick admitted that if the chance arises they could do something, but that their full focus was on securing the result first.

“We always try to build our game. We don’t want to become a team that is predictable in the way we play. I think creativity in our team is something that we try when we get an opportunity. You can see some of the tricks we used (against Italy),” Stick said.

Springboks DNA

“But we don’t want to lose our DNA and what makes us Springboks. We still want to improve our set pieces. We still want to improve how we play the game defence wise when it comes to momentum and we still want to improve at the breakdown. Against Italy we had a big challenge there.

“So tricks wise we will keep on evolving and trying things as long as they are by the letter of the law. The nice thing is we have a very experienced (former) ref in Jaco Peyper in our management team. So we always bounce ideas and get approval from him.

“If there is an opportunity for us to try something different we will. But we are also well aware that the Georgians also might try somethings. So we can’t get too comfortable and our main focus is to win the game.”

Although the Boks are heavy favourites, despite them again rotating their match day squad extensively, Stick said that Georgia would bring a unique physical challenge, especially in the scrums, which they are relishing.

“We are playing against Georgia. This is one of the toughest teams that you will play when it comes to the physical side of the game. Set piece wise, especially when it comes to the scrums, and we know how they take pride in making big contact in the game,” said Stick.

“I also like how passionate they are. I have been to Georgia before and those people are very tough human beings. So it is going to be a tough one, but the more we execute our plan the better it will be.”