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Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said the Boks would hold nothing back in their final Rugby World Cup warm-up match against New Zealand at a sold-out Twickenham on Friday evening.
Kolisi reiterated that while it may be their last warm-up game, the Boks would give everything as they looked to fine-tune their game before the World Cup.
“The fact that the All Blacks selected a full-strength side for the match shows their intent,” said Kolisi.
“This is not a friendly. In fact, we’ve never had a friendly against them. It’s going to be a big physical battle, and we are excited about it.”
The 2019 Rugby RWC-winning skipper added: “We will not hold back at all. There are 80 000 people coming to the match and we owe it to them to give our all. There are also not many opportunities such as this to face the All Blacks in the northern hemisphere, so it’s going to be a special game.
“It’s also our last match before the Rugby World Cup, so we want to make the most of the occasion. Hopefully, it will be an ugly, tough game, but beautiful at the same time.”
Stick expected an equally epic challenge and said: “Playing against the All Blacks is always tough. So, this will be a good measure for the guys to test themselves before the World Cup.”
The Bok assistant coach was confident about Canan Moodie’s positional switch from wing to centre, where he will join forces with Andre Esterhuizen.
The Springboks’ next assignment will be to defend their RWC title in France, where they will line up against Scotland (10 September), Romania (17 September), Ireland (23 September) and Tonga (1 October) in the pool stages.
