Kwagga Smith: The All Blacks are still the ‘ultimate test’

Springboks forward Kwagga Smith spoke highly of the All Blacks ahead of the clash at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland this weekend, praising the fixture between the two sides as one of rugby’s “biggest rivalries”.

Smith starts the Rugby Championship fixture at openside flanker, filling the void of injured captain Siya Kolisi and said that the clash with the All Blacks is the “ultimate Test” for a Springbok.

The winner of Saturday’s clash will be crowned champions of the shortened Rugby Championship after the Springboks and All Blacks comprehensively defeated Australia and Argentina, respectively.

Rugby’s biggest rivalry

“I love playing against the All Blacks; it always brings out the best in me. Personally, I believe it’s one of the biggest rivalries in rugby and the ultimate test for me as a player,” Smith said ahead of his 32nd Test cap for the Springboks.

“The other top rugby nations are making a strong statement, but the history and rivalry of matches between the Springboks and All Blacks makes it such a big game to participate in.

“New Zealand are a popular team, and they’ll never the lose the aura around them.

“This is going to be a hard match. There’s no doubt they’ll want to do well at home and win in front of their home crowd.”

Due to the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the clash will not take place at the iconic Eden Park in Auckland but rather at the smaller Mount Smart Stadium.

For Smith, the venue matters little.

“It may be a new venue, but the class of the rugby will remain the same,” he said. “It doesn’t matter where we play, it will always be a tough match against them.”

Cohesion and split

Centre Lukhanyo Am is also raring to go for the challenge and is one of the few players, including full-back Willie Le Roux, props Frans Malherbe and Steven Kitshoff and hooker Bongi Mbonambi who have started both fixtures.

“If one considers that we come from playing a game last week and then making the journey to New Zealand, I feel good,” said Am.

“When we arrived here, we got straight into it. We’ve done this (splitting the squad) before, so it wasn’t an issue.”

Am says the training camps and alignment camps ahead of the tournament have been vital to the Springboks’ cohesion.

“We’ve had a few training camps already, so we had enough time to gel as a squad,” the centre said.

“Hopefully, we can build on last week and bring momentum into the game.”

Am reunites with Damian de Allende in the midfield, with the pairing combing for the 28th time on Saturday, one shy of Jean de Villiers and Jaque Fourie’s all-time record of 29.

The centre believes that the All Blacks will pose a different challenge to the Wallabies and hopes the Boks can build on last week’s momentum.

“We played well last week, but there are areas in which we believe we can be better,” said Am.

“This will also be a completely different challenge. From our side, it will be important to create opportunities and to capitalise on them.”

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