Eastbourne – Much has been made of the conditions in England at this time of the year and the Springboks have had to endure the persistent showers, wind and cold weather that has been the blot of their stay so far in the coastal town of Eastbourne.
The conditions may be far from ideal for the Springboks in their preparation towards their first game of the tournament against Japan on Saturday but backline coach Ricardo Loubscher believes that it will be crucial in the team’s ability to adapt to the conditions for the remainder of the tournament.
“If you look at the weather predictions for the last two days it wasn’t supposed to rain. From our point of view we have to make sure we prepare for all weather conditions and hopefully over the next day or two we will get some sun, we are looking forward to that,” said Loubscher from the team hotel.
Loubscher doesn’t think that the adverse weather conditions will pose any hindrance to the way in which the Springboks want to play on Saturday and instead believes that their success in the northern hemispheres in previous years will stand them in good stead against Japan.
“Not at all. We showed over the last few years that we can play in any conditions and have the ability to adapt. Hopefully on the weekend it won’t be anything different to us and we can adapt to that and we are looking forward to the challenge over the weekend”.
What the Springboks will need to adapt to at the Brighton Community Stadium on Saturday will be the different style of play that the men from the Land of the Rising Sun will present to them on the field and add to that the astute acumen of one Eddie Jones.
Jones has been tasked with building the Japanese team into a formidable force that will not only make up the numbers at a Rugby World Cup but will ultimately be one of the dark horses to do well come their turn to host the tournament in 2019.
While Jones came desperately close to winning the World Cup with his native Australia in 2003 when they lost in the final to England, Jones is widely respected the world over for his acumen and ability to turn ordinary teams into championship winning sides.
Jones’ latest crusade to uplift Japanese rugby may not lead to much success on the international stage any time soon but they could easily want to announce their intentions of joining world rugby’s top table in the near future with the major scalp of the Springboks in the World Cup.
“We need to win the Test match first and on the day the ability to adapt will be important. Obviously with Japan it is a different challenge and we want to make sure we prepare well and tick all the boxes.”
“Eddie Jones is a world class coach, he is very astute and very experienced and we must make sure we prepare for anything on the day. We want to focus on our own game and make sure whatever chances we are creating, we need to finish those,”Loubscher said.