Springboks coach warns that ‘highly motivated’ Portugal will be ‘no pushovers’
Portugal will be looking to spring a shock this weekend.
Springboks assistant coach Deon Davids insists that Portugal will be “no pushovers” when they take on the European side in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
South Africa come into the fixture on the back of a 25-24 defeat to Ireland in Durban that saw them draw the two-Test series 1-1, this after the Boks won in Pretoria.
They will now turn their attention to facing Portugal for the first time ever as they look to get back to winning ways before this year’s Rugby Championship kicks off.
Keen to bounce back
“As a team we pride ourselves on the standards we’ve set, and for our respect for the opposition, no matter which team we face,” said Davids ahead of Saturday’s game.
“Having looked back at our performance last week, we need to be more focused going into this game and play the quality of rugby we want to play.”
Portugal thrust themselves into the global spotlight at the 2023 Rugby World Cup after putting in several impressive showings and Davids is fully aware of their threat.
“Portugal beat Fiji in the World Cup, so they are no pushovers,” he said.
“They like to move the ball around a lot and their head coach [Simon Mannix] has a New Zealand background, which says a lot about the way they want to play, so it will be important to keep them at bay, to dominate on attack and defence, and deny them momentum. We want to play the match on our terms.
“They will be highly motivated to show that they can play well and perform at this level, and they certainly won’t need more motivation knowing that they will be facing the world champions.
“They also have a good support base in Bloemfontein and will want to make the most of the occasion of playing in front of a sold-out stadium, so it’s going to be a good test for both teams.
“They beat Namibia on Saturday, who have a good coaching team, so it won’t be a case of us pitching up and winning the match. We have to deliver a quality performance and give our best for the full 80 minutes.”
The Springboks have already confirmed that Franco Mostert (second-row) and Edwill van der Merwe (wing) will not be considered for selection due to injury while experienced centre Damian de Allende has left the camp due to personal reasons.
Capped duo Elrigh Louw (back-row) and Ntuthuko Mchunu (prop) and the uncapped Quan Horn (full-back), Andre-Hugo Venter (hooker) and Ruan Venter (back-row) have been called up as Davids discussed the selection dilemma facing the Boks.
“We have a clear strategy about where we are as a team now and what we need to do going forward, so there are two key factors for us this week, and those are managing the players and building squad depth,” he said.
“We have a tough and long season so it’s vital that we manage the players effectively, but we also want to build squad depth for the future, so we’ll probably try to balance those aspects as well as possible this week.”
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