Pieter-Steph respects Welsh too much to take them lightly

The expectation from outside is that the Springboks should win their first international of the new season against Wales at Twickenham with some ease but according to skipper Pieter-Steph du Toit there is no chance of there being any complacency in the camp.

Speaking from London on the eve of the game in front of a sold out crowd, Du Toit confirmed what his coach Rassie Erasmus said earlier in the week about a game against Wales being personal for him and he also spoke about the huge respect he has for that nation’s rugby players.

📍 The Springboks have arrived in London. 🧳🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿#RSAvWAL pic.twitter.com/TKvLgUqs2d

— SA Rugby magazine (@SARugbymag) June 20, 2024

“I do have a special bond with Wales. I made my debut against Wales in 2013 and it was also against Wales that I captained the Springboks for the first time,” said Du Toit.

“Playing against Wales is always special and I think we have a lot of respect for one another. The way they play, with their physicality, is much the same as we play. The message that the coaches gave us this week was to remind us that in the last 10 games between the two teams it is five wins each, and we went a while not beating them. So we have got to focus on that. They are physical, they are big boys and they are hard.

“I think the Welsh attitude was summed up when we played them last year (in a game we won quite comfortably). When we scored tries in that game we noted their attitude, most teams walk back to halfway after they’ve conceded points. But they ran back. They were just eager to get the game restarted so they could get stuck in and score points. They are a team that doesn’t stop, and the challenge playing against them is that you know they will just always keep coming.”

Du Toit said that message to the four newcomers in the Bok team that will make their debuts was for them to trust the abilities that got them called up to the team in the first place.

“We are playing at Twickenham in a sold out game. It is our second game with Twickenham as a neutral venue, the first one was last year against New Zealand. It was the All Blacks and now Wales, and it is a huge honour to be playing against them,” said the Bok captain.

“The message to them is that if you have done the hard work the systems we have in place are there to protect the new guys in the team. Because we have such good systems the new guys can just focus on their abilities and what got them selected for the Springboks.

“On the captaincy, it is a massive honour to be leading the team. But as people would have noted from the past, and also from watching Chasing the Sun on television, the captain is really irrelevant in this team. His job description is to carry out the communication between the players and the referee. Everyone is assigned a specific role and each player has to execute that to the best of their ability.”

The Boks are starting out a second term as World Cup champions but having a target on the back is not something that concerns the team.

“The pressure is always on to win when you wear a Bok jersey. That never changes. There are new coaches but the core of the squad stays the same. We have a bit of a better edge this time compared to when we played Wales in 2018 (in Washington with an experimental team) but the pressure is the same. It is the same on both teams.”

Du Toit hinted that he doesn’t intend being a very talkative captain and will only speak when it is necessary to do so.

“Some guys speak and some lead with their actions. I just want everyone to be themselves. If there is something on my heart that needs to be said then I will say it but I will only speak when it is necessary to speak.”

Although there is an experimental look to the backline in particular, Du Toit reckons a top performance from the team is a priority in order to create the momentum needed to take into the Ireland series that kicks off in Pretoria on 6 July.

“It is very important in this game to get the combinations working and also for us to build momentum. There are a lot of young guys pressing for places and some of them have come in for this game to create competition for spaces. If it all works well and we do get momentum and we do create that keen competition for places it will put us in a good space as we start to build into this World Cup cycle.”