Pretoria - It is becoming an old debate and one that must remain in Super Rugby.
There is a vast difference between Test match rugby and Super Rugby and talk of the Springboks adopting the Lions style of play should come to an end according to Springbok and Lions loose forward Warren Whiteley.
Whiteley has shut the door on the debate which has gripped the South African rugby public since the Lions fairytale run to the Super Rugby final.
The inspirational Whiteley has extinguished opinions that the Springboks should play like the Lions as they are two different teams playing at different levels of the game.
“No there isn’t a debate. I mean it’s two different sides so I don’t know what debate that is,” said Whiteley on Thursday.
“It’s two different teams, one is playing at provincial level and the other is a national side. Yes we as players bring a lot of confidence to the Springbok side for the style of rugby we’ve been playing. There are similarities but at the Boks, it’s a step up. The intensity and the speed we train at is at another level and we enjoy that as players because we want to push ourselves and we want to be the best.”
With the Springboks Rugby Championship opener against Argentina just a week away, Whiteley believes that all the focus should be on how the national team will make improvements on their play from the June Tests against Ireland and moving on from the Lions Super Rugby run.
“We are definitely one now so there is no more talking about the past. We’ve put that at the backs of our heads and we are focused now on what lies ahead and that’s the Rugby Championship.”
“There was definitely a change in how we played over the last couple of years. There was a big shift mentally in the way we want to play, the way we want to approach the game and how we want to shift and keep improving. It is the same mindset, that is the mindset from the start and nothing is going to change. We just need to improve and make good decisions when we are under pressure. That will come with time and I believe in that Irish series if you look at the first Test match it improved drastically along to the third. I feel we are going to keep on improving,” Whiteley said.
The Springboks can’t be faulted for wanting to put together the basic building blocks of their game but they will also have to contend with the passion and growing astuteness that Los Pumas brings to the international fray while having to also fall back on their strengths of being dominant in the collision and set-piece play.
“They are a team who play on emotion and are very passionate. They’ll definitely make a step up now and we know how tough they are to beat. They are extremely physical, have a fantastic set-piece and they put your rucks under a lot of pressure. They are a team where first and foremost you need to front up physically before you can do anything. They will challenge you upfront and we need to step up to that challenge so it won’t be easy for us but we are really looking forward to that challenge.”
Independent Media