VIDEO: 'We would be fools to underestimate Japan' - Kolisi

KENSINGTON, LONDON: South Africa won’t be foolish enough to disrespect Japan, because then it will be a repeat of 2015, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi promised.

Both assistant coach Mwandile Stick and Kolisi insisted that this game was just as important as the Test matches coming up against France, Italy, Ireland, and Wales, and refused to see this match as a mere dress rehearsal for the main events.

“Japan is not here to prepare us for France; they are here for us to prepare and be ready for them. I haven’t had a coach tell me once this week, ‘you have to look at this because of next week, ‘ Kolisi said.

“We are giving Japan the respect they deserve, because if we think like that, we are going to end up like we did in 2015. We don’t think further than Japan.

“We traveled here on Monday, and we trained on Monday. We got off the plane, we had a few hours off, and we went to training. We will be fools if we don’t learn from what happened in the past,” the captain elaborated.

“When we played them in 2019, it took us until halftime when we got the maul try. That’s who they are. Some teams don’t give them the respect they deserve, and they get a shock when they get on the field.”

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In the build-up to the game this week, Japan’s coach Eddie Jones said he told his charges they are playing the Springboks, they know what is coming – a power game up front and a lot of tactical kicking.

Could it be that simple to beat the Springboks?

“Eddie Jones, with his experience, knows which buttons to press, and I am being honest,” Stick responded.

“If I were on the other side in the change room, I would probably say the same thing. To play the Springboks, you have to be physical. Then you stand a chance of having a good result.

“I would probably have done the same thing,” Stick commented, adding: But with his [Jones] experience, and we know the mind games he plays, he’s got a good reference point when it comes to that.

“He’s done it in the past with Japan, so a lot of his players will get motivation from the past. “

Kolisi was there in 2015 in Brighton when the Boks suffered one of their most gut-wrenching defeats in Springbok rugby history, and he still remembers everything about that day.

“I remember everything. I watched almost the whole game from the bench. It was one of the toughest days for us, but we learned from it.

“We didn’t do enough detail in looking into them, like we do now. We didn’t know half the players, because we never played against Japan.

“JP [Petersen] knew who they were and what they were good at, but a lot of us didn’t know.

“We are in a far better place than we were back then,” he insisted.

Image: Brad Roberts