Knowing they have a target on their backs, the Springboks are looking to up their attack a level this season as they continue to try and evolve into a side that will be able to defend their back-to-back World Cup wins when they get to Australia in 2027.
Coach Rassie Erasmus already put that into motion last weekend with an eight-try walloping of the Barbarians in the season opener in Cape Town in driving rain and the Boks know their attack needs to get even better if they are to stay ahead of the chasing pack.
There are a number of nations looking to dethrone the Boks from their No 1 world ranking and the Boks know they need to evolve even more. That’s why the pleasing aspect was the way they controlled the game in the wet against the Barbarians and Erasmus is looking for his side to take it a step further this weekend.
“If you don’t change, you get left behind. We started evolving when attack coach Tony Brown came in last year. You could see the intent last week, and if it wasn’t so wet, more of the offloads would have stuck,” Erasmus explained at the team announcement on Tuesday.
“This group of senior guys who are playing this weekend want to continue with that. This team will definitely not slot back to 2019 when it was a kick-and-chase, pressure game for us. This team on Saturday must try and get it right.”
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Erasmus said the team needed a fluid approach when they had injuries and had learnt to adapt to the changing skillset of different players. But over and above all the attacking mindset needed to be worked into the changes and now that they have a full World Cup cycle, they want to develop an attacking game that can do well in any weather and against any opposition.
“As new blood comes in, we change. In 2019, (then attack coach) Swys de Bruin withdrew a month before the World Cup and we met his replacement Felix Jones when we got to Japan. That is how much time we had to prepare on the attacking front.
"Then, post-2019, the Covid pandemic took two years of development away from us, and we had no preparation for the Lions series. Still, with the (limited) time we had going into the last World Cup, we played some good attacking rugby. None of these guys we’re still picking are not coachable enough to evolve with us.”
SETTING THE TONE
This weekend’s match at Loftus Versfeld is one where Erasmus has picked a very strong side and wants to set the tone for the season. There are 13 players from the Cape Town game still involved and where the changes have come, they have come with more experience being inserted into the matchday squad.
And that is because they face an Italian side that is an evolving force of their own, a team that if you don’t counter correctly, could give you a long afternoon.
“This is not the Italy of old. We remember the importance of playing them in the 2019 World Cup pool game. It was a vital game and we were very nervy about it. There was a red card that swung it our way. A lot of the guys in this team recall that match.”
Erasmus added the caveat that new coach Gonzalo Quesada had crafted them into a structured attacking unit that has improved their rugby.
“They used to be a flamboyant team that ran from everywhere. Last year, they had a good year; they manned up in the first two games of the Six Nations. But they’ve only two United Rugby Championship teams to pick from, and they tend to run out of players.
“We expect passion and a physicality that we need to handle. They have a good, structured kicking game. I wouldn’t say they’re a conservative team, but they’re not the Italy of three years ago.”
The Boks won’t be taking any chances when the test kicks off at 5pm.