The tables will turn in South Africa says Bulls prop
SPOTLIGHT: Bulls prop Lizo Gqoboka believes the tables will turn when the European teams in the United Rugby Championship travel to South Africa.
Much has been said about the performances of the South African teams in the opening two rounds of the tournament with conditions and a spotlight ‘4G’ surfaces.
For Gqoboka, who scored his team’s only try in the defeat to Connacht, adapting to conditions will be something the teams in the north will also have to deal with when they head to SA.
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Lizo Gqoboka barrels his way over for the first try of the game 😤💪#TryTuesday #TrueToTheBlue pic.twitter.com/2APtayXKWl
— Official Blue Bulls (@BlueBullsRugby) October 5, 2021
“I think what we have seen in the past with teams playing the Cheetahs and the Kings, it’s going to be different for them as well coming into these hot conditions and playing at altitude,” said Gqoboka.
“It will have an impact on them as well.
“But it is not what we are relying on. We are not going to rely on altitude to help us.
“As professionals, how we play and how we execute things should get us the wins and not the other things even though they will have an impact.”
The Bulls suffered a 3-31 defeat to Leinster in Round One before going on to lose their second-round match 7-34 to Connacht a week later.
The Pretoria side will have two more games on tour against the Cardiff Blues and Edinburgh.
Gqoboka said there are things his team need to get used to in the Northern Hemisphere.
“There are a couple of things that we need to adjust to. The conditions are different and the tempo in which they play is very different,” said the Bok prop.
“They are quite accurate in executing what they want to do in these conditions because they are used to it.”
He added: “In Europe, there is something called breaking the glass. In the line-out you can jump over, whereas in South Africa you are not allowed to jump like that, you must jump straight up. You can’t jump over to the guys to contest the line-out.
“So those are the small differences, but it is not going to change because we complain. We need to analyse that as well and just adapt.”
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