‘I don’t think Eddie Jones is going to get lucky’ – Nick Mallett reveals how he expects Springboks to beat Japan
Ex-Springboks head coach Nick Mallett (inset), Japan boss Eddie Jones and Boks counterpart Rassie Erasmus.
Nick Mallett has revealed that he does not expect Japan to trouble South Africa when they meet in their Autumn Nations Series Test in London on Saturday.
The clash at Wembley Stadium will be only the fourth time that the Springboks and Brave Blossoms meet at Test level.
Japan famously won the first encounter between the sides during the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England and South Africa then won the next two matches which were both played in 2019.
The first of those Bok victories was a 2019 World Cup warm-up match in Japan before they also beat the Brave Blossoms in their backyard during the global showpiece’s quarter-finals en route to them lifting the Webb Ellis Cup that year.
Eddie Jones was Japan’s head coach when they beat the Boks in that World Cup pool match in Brighton 10 years ago and is back in charge of the Brave Blossoms again.
Japan delivered competitive display in loss to Wallabies
Last weekend, Jones’ troops put up a competitive display against the Wallabies before suffering a narrow 19-15 defeat in Tokyo, but Mallett does not expect the Brave Blossoms to run the Springboks so close.
Appearing on the Talking Boks podcast with Brenden Nel, Mallett was asked whether Japan would trouble the Boks in any way and replied: “I don’t think so. I also don’t think we’re going to play the style of rugby that’s going to suit Japan.
“In that game, which we lost in Brighton, we were fast and loose.
“We thought we’re going to smash them by 40 points. And just like the (Boks’) Australia game at Ellis Park, Emirates Airline Park (earlier this year), when it gets away from you and you play a style of rugby that suits the opponent, you’re putting yourself into a ridiculous position.
“And it was proven with that Brighton game against Japan, as well as the game against Australia at Emirates Airline Park.
‘We are going to take them on in the forwards’
“So I think this coaching staff and the players have learned so many lessons from particularly that game against Australia. And we are going to take them on in the forwards.
“Remember the driving maul in 2019 (World Cup quarter-final), where we went 55 metres down the field, straight after half-time.
“The game was not in the balance, but they were still quite close to us at half-time. And suddenly we had a 50-metre maul and I can’t remember if Faf (de Klerk) or (Malcolm) Marx went over to score. And it was game over, and I think that’s how we’re going to play against them.
“So it is going to be pretty direct and quite interesting to see whether the team that they’ve picked, and Sacha (Feinberg-Mngomezulu) in particular, retains that game-plan throughout the game and make sure that we do play in the right areas.
“Horrible to say right areas of the field, but we should go from contestable kick to set-piece to set-piece to penalty to contestable kick.
“And when we’re in there 25, we must roll them over with our big forwards.
“And if we do that, it could be a 30-pointer. I don’t think Eddie Jones is going to get lucky this weekend.”