Rassie's Boks won't change Test match approach to chase Nations Championship bonus points
SPRINGBOKS
SPRINGBOK coach Rassie Erasmus says they are not going to make many adjustments to accomodate the Nations Championship.
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The inaugural Nations Championship sees the world’s top teams doing battle to qualify for a grand final at Twickenham in November, but the Springboks will not change their approach to Test match rugby by chasing log points.
The exciting finals weekend at the home of rugby will see all 12 teams in action, with the first-placed northern hemisphere team pitted against the first-placed southern hemisphere team, the second-placed teams playing each other, and the match-ups descending to sixth versus sixth.
Log points will be accrued in July when the northern teams play three games in the south, and in November when the opposite occurs in the build-up to the Twickenham finale. Bonus points for tries scored could play a key role in the fight for top spots, but Bok coach Rassie Erasmus says the Boks are only interested in winning their matches.
“For us, Test match rugby is about playing the best possible game we can, and if we win by one point, that is fine by us,” he said.
“The Springboks have never played a competition where they chase log points for Test match rugby — we just want to try and win every match,” the coach said.
The essence of what Erasmus is saying is that the Boks inflict their game plan on the opposition as best they can, and they are not fussed about how the points flow as long as they end the game with more than the opposition.
“We’re doing things how we do it in Springbok rugby,” he said just over a week before the Boks Nations Championship opener against England in Johannesburg.
“I don’t think we really see this as a competition (the Nations Championship). We see it as a next Test match, and a next Test match, and a next Test match.
“Going for bonus points in these games — I don’t know if that’s really Test match rugby,” Erasmus said.
“We just want to play the rugby we want to play, and make our fans and ourselves proud.”
In other words, victory each weekend — however it comes — is paramount for Erasmus, not where his team figures on a points table.
“Rather than having the mindset of just going full out to try and win this (the Nations Championship), we simply want to beat England, then beat Scotland, and then beat Wales,” he said.
“And I think they want to do the same with us.”
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