JJ Harmse
Sydney - The Springboks won’t change their focus, gift the All Blacks easy points or fly back to South Africa.
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On the contrary, they are flying to Wellington to try to win the Tri-Nations Test on Saturday against their traditional rugby enemies.
No Springbok team under his leadership will be allowed to ever give up. That's what Bok coach, Peter de Villiers, said on Tuesday during an informal chat with Sport24.
De Villiers had just announced that two additional Springboks - Flip van der Merwe and Gio Aplon - were out of the Wellington Test after being declared unfit.
Van der Merwe and Aplon will fly back to South Africa on Wednesday.
Although De Villiers will take on the All Blacks with a team short of experience, he is more worried about the value of the Springbok jersey for these players.
“The Springbok jersey always has to be the ultimate reward for excellence. You have to know if you put on that jersey that you deserved it.”
“And every player then has to use that opportunity to play so well that it will be impossible for another player to take it away from him.”
“This group here perhaps hasn’t worked hard enough to get here and that showed in the weekend’s defeat (39-20 against the Wallabies).”
“Due to the large number of players who couldn’t come on tour, we had to give guys a chance and I’m not so sure all of them understand the extent of their responsibility.”
“The Bok jersey will never be cheapened.”
De Villiers believes some players perhaps made the Bok team too easily and were therefore prepared to give up more easily.
“If you fought hard to get it, you will fight hard to stay in.”
This point of view is precisely the one that 25-year-old wing Lwazi Mvovo wants to showcase against the All Blacks.
“Everyone is very disappointed about what happened against the Wallabies and will learn from it. New Zealand will be tough but we will go all out and defend our country and play for everyone there.”
Mvovo was eager to hear the haka.
“I am very much looking forward to it and will use that time to think about what I have to do in the match to help the team win.”
“We won in 2008 after a bad defeat, so we can do it again.”
De Villiers will announce his team on Thursday.