Heyneke gives Boks just five percent
New Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer issued a veiled warning to England: These Boks can be much better.
Speaking ahead of the second Test against the tourists in Johannesburg on Saturday, Meyer said the team did not come close to their potential in the 22-17 win over the English in Durban last Saturday.
And he is expecting a marked improvement from his charges in what could be the series decider this week.
"I'll be honest this team is not five percent where I want them to be," Meyer told a media scrum at the team's base in Midrand.
As always the Bok mentor deflected attention away from himself and praised his players for their efforts.
"I don't believe a coach is such a great coach to make such a great difference in two weeks," Meyer said, adding: "There is a lot of luck involved and a lot of great players, so I don't want to take credit for that."
While Meyer only had three brief planning sessions with the various Super Rugby franchises and a few days last week to work with the team before the first Test, he felt the players were more relaxed in the build-up to the second international.
"I think the side is much more relaxed this week and training was much more sharp and better," Meyer said.
"We need to improve and the mentality needs to be there and we need to get to the field with the same physicality and same mind set.
"England will definitely up their game, so we also need to up our intensity."
Meyer, however, said the team could not only bank on good training sessions for an improvement on Saturday.
"The second week has been much easier training wise, but it is not just a matter of training we need to put this into practice on game day," he said.
Meyer said England's successful shift in game plan in the latter part of last week's match suggested they would change their tactics for this weekend.
"I think England will change a lot of their tactics, probably keep the ball more in hand and move us around. Because they did well when they did that," the Bok coach said.
"We want to concentrate on the way we want to play and it is important that we lift our standards for the second Test."
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