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Cape Town - Springbok legend Victor Matfield has given the team some advice ahead of their cash against the Barbarians at Wembley on Saturday.
Bok coach, Allister Coetzee, has already said their main objective won't be to entertain the crowd by playing attractive rugby, but Matfield believes the players shouldn't be "pre-programmed".
"The days where players kicked the ball in certain areas of the field and ran in others is over," Matfield said on SuperSport’s Afrikaans programme, SuperRugby, on Monday night.
"You should not just kick the ball away for the sake of kicking. If you give a little kick over the defence your goal should be to win the ball back. Your goal should be to try and create chances on attack.
"The game against the Barbarians is a good opportunity to get some confidence for the Test against England. We must play like we want to play in the Tests. The Barbarians will likely play high risk rugby so there should be opportunities to hit them on the counter attack because they will make mistakes."
Matfield believes a conservative game plan, where the Boks try and win with little to no possession, won't work.
"New Zealand recently beat Australia with less possession. It's about the kind of possession you have and how you use it."
One aspect of the game which the former lock would like to see used by the Boks, is the driving maul.
"I haven't seen South Africa use the driving maul yet this season," Matfield said. "It's a good way to create chances. If the opposition must send most of their forwards to try and stop the maul, it creates a vacuum which can be exploited by the backline players."
Whichever game the Boks decide to play, it's important that they front up for the physical challenge.
"We haven't lost to England in the last 10 years and in 80% of those the victories were down to us dominating them physically," Matfield added.
"New Zealand dominate physically and defend better than they have in the past. They also use the rolling maul against every opponent."
