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KEEP the same intensity from Wellington and take it up a notch.
That’s the message from Springbok captain Siya Kolisi ahead of today’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship showdown with World Champions New Zealand at Loftus Versfeld, where Kolisi will want to lead his team to back-to-back victories over the All Blacks for the first time since 2009.
Kolisi wants his team to match and better the intensity shown in the win in Wellington if they are to record the victory on home soil and give themselves a massive boost ahead of next year’s Rugby World Cup.
“The most important thing is we want to make sure that the same intensity we had two weeks ago is there even a bit more. In that game we weren’t worried about the result, we were playing against the best team in the world and all we could do was give our best,” Kolisi said.
“That is the same mentality we are going in with this weekend. We want to make sure we don’t get shocked and we meet them with the intensity and the guys give their best. That is the most important thing for us. That is what the coach has been driving this week; not to worry about the score just make sure you give everything you can and pitch up with the same intensity.”
Kolisi said the team are getting better week by week and they know how dangerous the All Blacks are but will be ready for what they throw at them.
“We are improving and getting better each and every week. They have been No 1 for a long time because they bring it every game no matter who they are playing. That is where we want to be and we are striving towards that. I can’t say we are there. We can feel as a team that we are improving each and every single time and that is the most important thing for us.”
“They are going to take it up a notch, they’ve said it and made it clear that they want to win this game and get revenge. We don’t want to be shocked by the intensity and want to be ready from the word “go”. We can’t control what they are going to bring, but we must be prepared from the beginning and not wait for a couple of minutes. It is going to be a good and physical game.”
“No matter how the win comes, it doesn’t matter. Coach always says that you can’t control the start but you can control the intensity, that’s all we want to do. That is what happened against England, we started off badly but we fought back. It is just good to know that you can come back from both sides from losing or when you are winning. As long as we start with intensity it doesn’t matter as long as we make sure that our intensity is up there.”
Kolisi said the win in Wellington had kick-started something special.
“I can’t explain in any words how we felt. The whole week was huge because we were playing against the best team in the world and we had just lost two in a row. It was about grinding and we had to make each other proud and believe in each other.
“We were looking for motivation from each other and we could feel during the week that we are headed in the same direction and things coming together. We won the game and it is a huge thing, but we are still sixth overall and there is still a long way for us to go. We want to get better every week. We were happy and excited that it happened but we are in a building process. That is the biggest drive for us; that we improve and we did that last weekend against Australia and that is what the coaches are driving.” — SuperSport
Online Reporter