The Springboks and All Blacks will both be desperate to win the third Rugby's Greatest Rivalry Test in Soweto on Saturday, ahead of the finale in the USA.
For the first time in the Dave Rennie era the All Blacks will be under pressure, after they suffered their first loss since he took over earlier this year, a 33-26 defeat to the Springboks in the second Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test in Cape Town on Saturday.
The All Blacks won the opener at Ellis Park 33-16, but the Boks bounced back and produced a much more clinical performance to down the visitors thanks to a strong first half showing, and now take momentum into the third Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto this coming Saturday.
It sets up a very tasty final clash in South Africa at the FNB Stadium in Soweto, with the fourth and final Test to be played in Baltimore USA, and both teams will be desperate to come out on top in the three matches in the country.
Bok coach Rassie Erasmus admitted how close things are between the two sides, with the world number one ranking swinging between the two like a pendulum depending on who wins, and said the Boks would not get ahead of themselves after managing to bounce back.
“You lose and you go to number two in the world, and then next weekend you play against the number one team in the world,” explained Erasmus after the match.
“I 100% understand the pressure and why people were upset (about the Ellis Park loss), because who wants to support a losing team? Nobody in South Africa is supporting anything that’s not working. Of course I felt the pressure (ahead of the second Test). The players will tell you I felt the pressure. I was nervous.
“Dave’s experienced, he will get the team calm and he’ll do it now with his first loss. They’ll be under pressure. He’ll feel what we felt last week.
“We must make sure we’re not comfortable after this win and think we’re all good again, because there’s a lot of shit things that we did.”
Erasmus agreed that his team put in a much-improved performance from the first Test, but admitted that the All Blacks were a completely different and more dangerous outfit than last year, and they are very aware of that.
“I thought we started this game really well, but we agreed afterwards in the change-room that this is a very good New Zealand team,” said Erasmus.
“We did lots of things better this week than we did last week and they also did a lot of things better. They are not the same as last year’s team, they are very well coached and they have athletes who can beat you on the grass. They are on a different level to where they were last year.”
In unfortunate news Erasmus claimed that fullback Damian Willemse would miss the third Test after being forced off at halftime with an injury.
“Damian Willemse? Ya, he injured his hamstring, he’s out for next week,” said Erasmus.
