The Springboks have a mixed end of year tour, with two tough matches against France and Ireland, while they will be expected to beat Japan, Italy and Wales.
Springbok defence coach Jerry Flannery says that the team are preparing themselves for a tough test against a fired-up Japan when they open their end-of-year-tour at Wembley in London on Saturday.
The Boks will head into the game slightly undercooked, due to the players having dispersed to their various franchise teams around the world over the past month, while Japan will take some good momentum into the match after running the Wallabies close, going down 19-15 in Tokyo over the past weekend.
Having retained their Rugby Championship title when they beat Argentina at Twickenham at the start of the month, many of the Bok players will need to try and take some momentum from that, despite having played for their franchise teams recently.
It is also a short training week for the team, with players still arriving in London, and Flannery says the whole group is well aware of the challenge that Japan pose.
They also believe that they could deliver another upset, as they did when they beat the Boks in their first ever meeting in the 2015 World Cup in Brighton, and especially after giving the Aussies a run for their money.
Rewrite history
“I’m expecting that Eddie (Jones, Japan head coach) will be building up his team all week and they’ll believe that they can win and rewrite history by beating the Boks at Wembley,” said Flannery.
“So we are very aware of their mindset coming into this game, meaning we need to ensure that we are as well prepared as we can be.
“Japan showed resilience in the first half (against the Wallabies) despite the yellow cards, and they showed how well they can defend against one of the best sides.
“Australia scored six tries against us in the first game in the Rugby Championship, so we are aware that Japan are not just a really good attacking side, they can defend really well too, and in the last quarter, they came back into the game, and they will be disappointed that they didn’t win.”
Following this weekend’s match the Boks head over to Paris for a blockbuster clash against France, in the first meeting between the teams since the World Cup quarterfinal in 2023.
They then go on to face Italy, Ireland and Wales in a challenging run of games to close out their year, hopefully on a high note.
“It’s a great challenge for us. You have a bit more of a runway coming into the Rugby Championship with a training week before you play, and you face the same team the next week, so there isn’t much to change,” said Flannery.
“But for this tour, we have five different opponents from week to week, and that is how the World Cup will work as well, with a short turnaround between matches, so your ability to stay mentally fresh and keep bringing energy all the time will be good for us.”
