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Cape Town - South Africa second-row Lood de
Jager insists his charges are focused solely on their own game as they look to
win the Rugby Championship.
The Boks, who haven't won this title since
2009, are a long way behind world champion New Zealand this season according to
the bookmakers.
But De Jager thinks his team can impress if
they dominate up front with a typically South African style of play that could
upset their opponents.
"I think we'll always want to win and
first prize will be winning the trophy. We don't care about the All Blacks now,
that is coming later on," he told The Star.
"We don't have to change our whole
game to be like them. We don't want to be like the All Blacks. We want to play
our brand."
He added: "We want to play a Springbok
brand of rugby and maybe tweak it a little bit here and there but still stick
to the fundamentals of our game and what made the Springboks a great team over
the years.
"We are not going to change too much,
we are just working hard on the small things and details, and getting that
right."
Cheetahs lock De Jager was delighted to see
fellow South African team the Lions make the Super Rugby final, but he joined
head coach Allister Coetzee in stressing that adopting their game-plan would
not be wise.
"The Lions did really well and I'm
happy for them, it was good having a South African team in the final. They've
been together longer than most South African teams in Super Rugby and they had
quality in many areas that a team like the Cheetahs didn't have," he said.
"I think Test match rugby is really
different to uper Rugby, it's much tighter, more physical, it's just a step
up. You get tested in every aspect of your game where in Super Rugby some teams
don't test all areas."
He concluded: "We want to take it game for game, and the first game is Argentina, so we are working hard for that."
