Gregor Townsend: The Springboks are the biggest challenge in world rugby
Springboks star Damian Willemse and an inset of Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend.
Scotland boss Gregor Townsend says that playing the Springboks in South Africa is the biggest challenge in world rugby, regardless of the team selected.
Saturday’s Nations Championship clash at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria is the first meeting between the two countries in South Africa since 2014 after the Scots’ 2020 tour to the Republic was cancelled due to the global pandemic.
Whilst some of the Scottish players faced the Boks in the British and Irish Lions’ red in 2021, this will be a first experience for the entire matchday 23 as they represent Scotland against the back-to-back world champions in South Africa.
No Scotland players have faced the Springboks in South Africa before
Speaking ahead of the Nations Championship round two clash, Townsend said it was a privilege to be part of the occasion. He also praised how quickly they got into their structures in their first Test match of the year against England.
“Well, from our perspective, no one in our group has played South Africa for Scotland away from home. So, it’s a unique opportunity for us,” he said.
“It’s obviously the biggest challenge in world rugby, having seen how quickly they got into their game at the weekend. We were building up to our match, and we watched the first half, and they came out as if they’d been playing for the last few months.
“So they’re a team that knows their identity. I think everybody in world rugby knows their identity, and they’re very good at what they do; this will be a great challenge. It will be a great marker of where we are and where we need to go following this game.”
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Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has made wholesale changes to his matchday 23, with Handre Pollard taking over at fly-half and is partnered by Embrose Papier, who earns his first cap since 2018.
They are two of nine players who represented the Bulls last season that will trot out for the Boks, while the head coach has also named a youthful forward pack consisting of just 171 Test caps – 96 of which from captain Pieter-Steph du Toit. Townsend isn’t taking the inexperienced team lightly and hailed the depth that South Africa have.
“They change their team pretty regularly. I’m just looking at my laptop behind me, and it’s got their team for the last six or seven games, and it changes all the time. They have so much depth,” he said.
“They change the pack during games. I’d imagine this team or close to this team has trained together over the last two or three weeks. They’ll be fresh, ready to go, and they’ll want to build on what was a very good performance against England.”
Advantage of playing against many of the Bulls’ players
With the South African franchises joining the United Rugby Championship, the Scotland players are more familiar with many of the Springboks. Particularly this team with Glasgow Warriors and the Bulls meeting in the latter stages of the URC.
Townsend doesn’t believe that fact has been advantageous for his team when going up against the Springboks.
“Given that we are playing at Loftus, it probably makes my life more complicated, and for them, the opportunity to play at their home ground for their national team will be a massive boost,” the Scotland boss added.
“We know how strong rugby is in South Africa, the depth and also the power of the jersey that green and gold jersey that players will play even better or much better than they play at club level. Our Glasgow players have played against the Bulls recently, and the Bulls did very well in that semi-final.
“We know whatever Springbok team we’re coming up against is going to be one of the best in the world. They just show every time they play that they are the best team right now. Whatever 15 goes out there or 23, you know, the type of rugby they’re going to play, and it’s very effective, and it’s getting results.”
