'Boring' Boks need to find a higher gear

SPOTLIGHT: The Springboks could be in for a big shock if they don’t lift their performance levels for their upcoming Rugby Championship matches against the All Blacks.

The Boks are coming off a 2-1 series victory over Wales, while the All Blacks are reeling after their historic 1-2 series defeat to Ireland.

Despite the Springboks’ success, there are still some doubts around Jacques Nienaber’s game plan with many fans and pundits calling it “boring” and “outdated”.

Nienaber admits that his team is far from the finished product and that they will have to lift their game for an All Blacks team looking to right the wrongs.

“Our goal is to improve,” said Nienaber.

“When we faced Wales, we hadn’t played together as a team for a while, so that served as a marker for where we are.

“I think the main thing for us is to fix things in our game. We weren’t perfect against Wales.

“There is a lot of stuff that we have to work on and that we have to improve on.

“We had a nice review on Monday and we had a reality check on where we are currently.

“We have to look at what goals we set in the Wales series and where we excelled.

“In some instances we thought we actually showed some good growth and then in other instances, we didn’t show as much growth as we thought we would have.”

#ICYMI: Hansen enters the fray to defend incumbent Ian Foster and savage the New Zealand Rugby board. 👇#RugbyChampionship #NewZealand #AllBlacks #RSAvNZL https://t.co/fmaa8H6Olp

— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) July 29, 2022

Meanwhile, Springbok centre Lukhanyo Am agrees that his team will need to find something extra to beat New Zealand in Nelspruit and Johannesburg.

“They [All Blacks] are one of the teams where you have to be on your A-game all the time,” said Am.

“As a team, we have tried preparing as much as we can.

“We all know that we will be facing a different threat compared to Wales.

“We are busy doing our prep and we trust that will put us in a better place for the Test next week.”

@rugby365com

#ICYMI: SANZAAR has made a big decision regarding the red card rule for the upcoming Rugby Championship. #SouthAfrica #Australia #NewZealand #Argentina #RugbyChampionship https://t.co/Y3AjlnqSXI

— rugby365.com (@rugby365com) July 29, 2022