Boks hoping to change their fortunes in Brisbane
Springbok wing Cheslin Kolbe, who made his Test debut against Australia in Brisbane in 2018, said the team are determined to change their fortunes in the city when they line up against the Wallabies in their opening Castle Lager Rugby Championship match at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday.
The Bok speedster added that he hoped a strong foundation by the forwards would create opportunities for the backs to take advantage of.
The last time the Springboks beat the Wallabies in Brisbane was back in 2013, and despite South Africa entering the match as Rugby World Cup champions and the No 1-ranked team in the world, Kolbe was wary of underestimating the hosts and said his team were heavily focused on the task at hand.
“I made my Test debut in Brisbane, and it didn’t turn out to be a good result, but it’s good to be back here and in the team,” said Kolbe.
“We have new coaching staff and players, so it will be important to execute our plan well. If the forwards set a strong foundation for us up-front, hopefully it will create opportunities that we can exploit.
“We haven’t played against them a lot down under, so as a team we want to go out there and deliver our best performance possible.”
Kolbe requires four points to strike 100 Test points, said he was excited about the dynamic brought in by new Springbok backline coach Tony Brown and he hoped that they could continue to build on the foundation laid in that aspect of their game in the opening four matches of the season.
“Tony has brough fresh ideas with his background as a player and coach, and he’s really been great in the system,” said Kolbe.
“He encourages us to express ourselves and play what we see in front of us within the team structure, and I believe we’ll keep getting better at that the more we play.”
Australia may be in ninth spot on the world rankings, but they will enter the match on a three-Test winning run under new coach Joe Schmidt, and Kolbe expected them to be immensely motivated, while he also rated their back three highly and said the Boks had to be at their best to come away with a win.
“They are a good team, so we need to be as well prepared as we can be,” said Kolbe.
“They have a good X-factor in their back three and can create something out of nothing, so we are looking forward to this opportunity to test ourselves. That said, our focus will be on what we want to do and achieve on the field.”
With a few young players coming through the ranks in the Bok team with Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (flyhalf) and Elrigh Louw (No 8) earning their first starts in the green and gold, and the talented Ben-Jason Dixon coming off the bench, Kolbe was confident that the Boks were in a good position as they build toward to the 2027 Rugby World Cup, which will be hosted in Australia:
“The future is exciting for the Springboks with the young talent coming through,” said Kolbe. “It’s good to have some healthy competition because it brings the best out of all of us. For me personally, I just always want to go out there and give my best whenever I take the field.”
The match kicks off at 06h45 and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
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