Springboks coach: ‘We owe it to ourselves to bounce back strongly’
Daan Human is backing the Boks to bounce back this weekend
Springboks assistant coach, Daan Human, says South Africa “owe it to themselves” to put in a good performance this weekend, as they look to rectify last weekend’s shock defeat to Los Pumas.
The Boks return to South Africa with their tail between their legs after the 29-28 defeat at the hands of Argentina in Santiago on Saturday, but a win in Nelspruit this weekend will ensure they will still claim the coveted Rugby Championship title.
“We know the whole country is behind us”
Speaking to the media ahead of the game, Human said his team will channel the full support of the country to get them over the line in Nelspruit.
“It’s special to be here. Hopefully we can deliver a good performance for the public,” said Human.
“We know the whole country is behind us, and we owe it to them, the supporters that will attend the game on the weekend, and ourselves to bounce back strongly. So, hopefully we can deliver a good performance that can earn us a win and see us win the Rugby Championship.”
Despite last week’s defeat, the Springboks still come into the return Test as heavy favourites, and remain on course to claim their maiden Rugby Championship title since 2019.
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“Still disappointed”
The Boks got off to a rampant start in Santiago on Saturday evening, as tries from Aphelele Fassi and Jesse Kriel saw them take a 14-0 lead after just 17 minutes; but they took their foot off the gas after this and allowed the Pumas to take the lead.
They later had a golden chance to win it in the final play, however, Manie Libbok’s 79th-minute kick sailed wide and Argentina clung on for an historic win.
Reflecting on the defeat, Human said he hopes they can take the harsh lessons from it into this weekend.
“Obviously we are still very disappointed with the result last week,” he said. “We always knew how tough it would be to play against Argentina at home and it was the first time some of our players played there, and hopefully they learned something from the experience.”
Human added: “There certainly wasn’t a lack of effort from the team. That said, we have a lot to improve on.”
Confident Argentina
Springboks head coach, Rassie Erasmus, opted to rotate a large number of his players for Test one against Los Pumas, and notably left Bongi Mbonambi, Frans Malherbe, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Damian de Allende, Cheslin Kolbe and Willie le Roux at home, and also dropped Eben Etzebeth onto the bench and Siya Kolisi from the matchday squad all together – with the skipper joining Erasmus in the coaches box.
Whilst they will all likely come back into the squad for the title decider this weekend, Human knows even with their full strength team that Argentina will take confidence from last weekend’s win.
“I think this is the first time they beat all three other teams in the Rugby Championship,” Human exclaimed. “They’ll take confidence from that, so we know what lies ahead for us this weekend.”
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