Johannesburg – Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer says he would not settle for anything less than two out of two victories on the Australasian leg of their Rugby Championship campaign.
“If you open the back door for only one win, you will probably only win one and. I've never coached with the attitude of not winning a game,” Meyer said in Johannesburg on Friday.
“I want to win every single game until the World Cup and that needs to be the attitude of the team.
“You go into games to win it and if you don't believe you can win it, there is no use climbing on the airplane.”
The Springboks faced a tough task ahead of next week's Test against Australia in Brisbane.
They have not beaten the Wallabies on Australian soil since 2009, and Brisbane, in particular, had been unkind to the Boks, where they last won a match in 1971.
While the Boks' victory over Argentina in Mendoza last weekend was anything but convincing, they had now won eight matches on the trot.
“Every single win away for me is a great win. We've won four on the trot away from home,” Meyer said.
“We got a lot of confidence out of that game (in Mendoza).”
Meyer said the team had learnt a great deal from the tightly-contested matches during the year-end tour to the UK and more recently against Scotland at home.
“Slowly but surely the team is learning and starting to adapt to what I want and how to handle pressure,” he said.
“Away games will always be an arm wrestle. You get stuck in, you have to have your set phases at 100 percent.
“You need good defence, to absorb the pressure and you need a 90-percent plus goal-kicker, which cost us last year.”
The Bok mentor said history suggested the odds were stacked against them, but he believed his side had shown a defiant character.
“I am happy with the way we are starting to absorb pressure. Now we face our biggest challenge because we haven't won there for quite some time.
“We'd never won at Soccer City and we'd never won in Mendoza, and now we've done that.
“I believe the team is mentally getting stronger, so there is a mental toughness getting into the team.”
Meanwhile, Springbok hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle had been passed fit and would depart with the squad of 28 players to Australia and New Zealand on Saturday.
Ralepelle, who injured his back during a gym session on the morning of the Springboks' 73-13 win over Argentina at Soccer City earlier this month, was ruled out of the tour to Argentina.
He rejoined the squad at the training camp in Johannesburg this week and, according to Springbok team doctor Craig Roberts, he should be fit for selection next week.
“Chiliboy stayed behind in South Africa to undergo rehabilitation while we went to Argentina and he responded very well,” Roberts said.
Apart from Ralepelle, Bjorn Basson (wing) and Jean de Villiers (centre and captain) took little or no part in training over the last two days.
Basson was forced to leave the field with a wrist injury against Argentina in Mendoza, while De Villiers had been in bed with flu. – Sapa