CAPE TOWN – Hard work, hard work, and more
hard work. That is what Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was preaching on Friday
on the eve of the final Test against England at Newlands on Saturday,
despite the Boks having already clinched the series with two consecutive
victories.
While
understandable euphoria has engulfed the South African rugby public over the
last fortnight – having come off two miserable years of results – Kolisi and
his team are not getting carried away just yet.
They know
that the Boks were fortunate to come away with a 41-39 victory in the series
opener at Ellis Park, and were again under pressure a week ago in Bloemfontein, where they
found themselves 12-0 down early on.
Eddie
Jones’ England outfit were
not good enough to capitalise on their strong starts, but providing the
opposition with such big advantages will result in defeats against the likes of
the All Blacks, Ireland and Australia.
“We just want
to keep improving on our performance. We’ve made a lot of mistakes, and we have
worked hard on fixing that,” Kolisi said at his captain’s press conference at
the team hotel on Friday.
Siya Kolisi speaks at a press conference at the team hotel on Friday. Video: Ashfak Mohamed“We want to play with greater intensity. We don’t want to make excuses. We all
have different defensive systems at our (franchise) teams, so we are getting
used to each other and getting better and better each week. It’s all about time.”
Kolisi’s
own game as a No 6 flank and captain has grown considerably as the series has
gone on, and he attributes that improvement to the theme that the Boks have
adopted this week – hard work.
“I think it
has gone well for us as a loose trio (with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Duane
Vermeulen). One thing I can say is that we are hard workers, and we obviously
have different skills as well,” he said.
Siya Kolisi speaks at a press conference at the team hotel on Friday. Video: Ashfak Mohamed“But now
with the final Test, we won’t play together for two more months, so we want to leave the team with a good taste in the mouth.”
The third Test kicks off at 5.05pm at Newlands on Saturday.
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