The perception that the most eagerly awaited international rugby match since the last Rugby World Cup is all about just the All Blacks needing to get payback for what the Springboks did to them in South Africa last year is not completely accurate. The visitors will have a payback mission too.
Versatile Bok loose forward hinted at what could provide an additional motivational spur for him and his teammates when he fronted the media after the Boks avenged their opening Castle Lager Rugby Championship defeat to Australia with a 30-22 win in Cape Town at the weekend.
“It’s a massive game going to Eden Park. I think even when we lost the other game in Auckland a few years back there was a lot of disappointment that we didn’t play well,” said Smith.
Indeed, he would have been referring to the 35-20 win at Mount Smart Stadium, an alternative venue in Auckland to Eden Park, in 2023. That was a game where the Boks had held back most of their first choice team from a big win over Australia in Pretoria in the first round of a Championship that was truncated to three rounds because of the Rugby World Cup in France and the Kiwis exposed their rust to race to 17 points in the first quarter of an hour.
But a previous visit to Auckland might register even more with some of the Boks like Eben Etzebeth, who was captain of the team in 2017 when they lost 57-0 to the All Blacks in Albany, North Harbour, which is effectively a suburb of Auckland. That, and the fact the Kiwis have not lost at Eden Park since 1994, and the Boks haven’t won there since 1937, will be a massive motivation for the South Africans.
Another motivation of course, is the need to silence the critics, who would still have been out in force after the win over Australia in Cape Town as the performance was still short of the rousing display many would have anticipated. But for the Boks it was all about regaining some confidence after the shock of what happened in Johannesburg, and both Smith and another senior player Handre Pollard were delighted just with the win.
“It (Auckland) will be a tough game. Obviously New Zealand are a great opponent. But I think for us it is a case of trying to get better with every game and taking that confidence and learning from every game that we play to get better,” said the Bok looseforward who scored a try to celebrate a rare start at No 8 following the late withdrawal of Jean-Luc du Preez, who was suffering from gastro on the day of the game.
Pollard’s unerring boot and tactical play played a bit part in the Bok win, but as usual he wasn’t eager afterwards to attract too much attention to his own role in getting the result.
“It’s great to contribute to the team. The only thing I care about is to win, I don’t care that much about awards and trophies, I just want to help the team win,” said the official Man of the Match. “Honestly, that’s the only thing we needed in this game. The win. A lot of guys played well today and contributed to the win. I know there always has to be a man of the match, but for me today was about getting the win.
“It was a tough week, and rightfully so. We were disappointed in the Johannesburg result. But towards the end of the buildup week we hit the sweet spot. We put the loss behind us and we took a lot of learnings out of that game.”
The Boks kicked 35 times at the DHL Stadium in comparison to 18 times the week before, which works out to almost exactly twice the number of kicks in comparison to Johannesburg. Pollard said that was in part to a bit of game correction but also down to the conditions, with the field being slippery and heavy underfoot after a lot of rain fell on Cape Town in the buildup.
“It was a combination of tactics and conditions that forced us into kicking a bit more. We knew what we had to do. It (the aerial battle) is an area in rugby that is becoming more competitive with all the new laws and stuff. So it’s getting a bit tough on a guy receiving a high ball. But our wings are unbelievable in getting there. We will always keep that as one of the strengths of our game going forward.”