Africa-Press – South-Africa. Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is relishing the opportunity of playing at No 8 when they take on Australia in the opening match of the Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday (5.10pm).
The Bok skipper, who will earn his 94th Test cap in Johannesburg, will start his first Test at No 8 this week after usually packing down on the side of the scrum in the No 6 jumper.
“My role will change slightly in the line-outs and the scrums, but other than that I will be fulfilling my usual role,” Kolisi said.
“Playing No 8 at the Sharks certainly helped me, though the role here is different. I am also not the same type of player as Jasper (Wiese) or former Bok No 8 Duane (Vermeulen) in terms of my size.
“So I am going to give what I can offer.”
With the new role, Kolisi will be important at the breakdown.
“The breakdowns are going to be a big area of the game, so myself, Marco [van Staden] and Pieter-Steph [du Toit] have an important job.
“With that said, the breakdowns are a team effort.”
He expects Australia to throw everything at them and said it will be dangerous to underestimate the importance of these two matches ahead of their tour to New Zealand where they will face the All Blacks in Auckland and Wellington.
“The talk in our camp has solely been on Australia,” said Kolisi.
“We saw how they played against the British and Irish Lions and we have been in the position they are now in the past. So it will be foolish to think that they won’t throw everything at us.
“We are certainly not thinking about the New Zealand matches now.”
Kolisi shrugged off the favourites tag going into the encounter.
“We don’t think of such things. For us, it’s all about our standards and looking back at our last four matches, we have worked hard to ensure that we are at the level we need to be going into this match.”
Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said this going to be their toughest Test so far this season.
“This is going to be a bigger game than what we have faced so far this season,” said Stick of the Wallabies who are looking for their first win over the Boks at Ellis Park.
“We are fully aware of the challenge ahead and we know how dangerous Australia are in the set pieces and with ball in hand. They played well in their last two matches against the British and Irish Lions.
“Losing the second Test in the last few minutes, while they won the last match, so it’s going to be a big battle.”
Stick also commented on the enforced change to the Springbok squad with Boan Venter replacing Jan-Hendrik Wessels as prop cover on the replacements bench.
“Jan took a knock at training, and we didn’t want to risk him for this match. Boan has been with us for several weeks now, and he is fitting into the structures well. He also has a good relationship with Daan (Human — Springbok assistant coach) in terms of what is expected, so this is a great opportunity for him.”
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