Roigard wary of fuelling Bok fire in Baltimore

Cam Roigard expects the Springboks to pounce on any All Blacks mistakes on Saturday, yet Jordie Barrett backs New Zealand to share the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry spoils.

Roigard, quoted by the All Blacks’ official website, said Dave Rennie’s men created enough chances but let themselves down at key moments during last week’s 29-24 defeat at FNB Stadium.

The result gave South Africa a 2-1 lead going into this week’s series decider at Baltimore’s M&T Bank Stadium.

“We created a lot of opportunities. We got ourselves in the right area of the field, but we missed two or three opportunities particularly in that second half, which against a team like South Africa, it’s not good enough,” Roigard said.

“South Africans don’t want to make errors, so they’re gonna try and put pressure on us through set-piece, through kicking and whatnot.

“When we’re making mistakes, that’s just fuel in their game.”

It was Roigard’s first tour of South Africa, and facing the same opponent four times running is only the second such instance for the All Blacks in the professional era, after the pandemic-disrupted 2020 season.

“Playing the same team four times in a row is pretty unique, but we’re gonna get a lot of growth out of it, and hopefully we can be better this week for sure,” the scrumhalf added.

Barrett, who spoke to Mike Hosking Breakfast on Newstalk ZB, described this week’s build-up after a 20-hour flight from Joburg left both squads sharing an aisle hours after the Kiwis’ loss.

“We poured a whole lot of mental and physical energy into the Test in Soweto, came off second best and four hours later we’re sitting across an aisle on a chartered flight with the Boks straight to Baltimore,” the centre said.

Barrett, in the mix to lead the team following injury to Ardie Savea, insisted the series remains alive.

“This Greatest Rivalry was always a four-game series … we’ve got a chance to go two-all against them and that’s the opportunity that excites us this weekend.”

This story first appeared on sarugbymag.co.za. It is republished here with permission.