He has never been in a Springbok team that has beaten England at Twickenham, and on Saturday Damian de Allende will look to change that when the sides meet in what is expected to be an epic encounter in their final Castle Lager Outgoing Tour match.
The last time the Springboks defeated England on their home patch was in 2014, and in their last two outings, the Boks suffered heart-breaking one-point losses – something they would like to change when the teams line up this weekend.
It will mark a big occasion for both teams, not only because it is their final match of 2022, but also since both sides will be desperate to secure a win following a mix of encouraging victories and disappointing results in their November internationals as they look to build momentum with less than a year to go before the Rugby World Cup.
“It would be incredible (to win this weekend),” said De Allende, who was included in World Rugby's 2022 Dream Team over the weekend.
“I haven’t been part of a team that beat them at home. But that said, they are a great team and it’s going to be a tough encounter, especially since they have also been up and down in the last few games.”
De Allende added: “When we played against them last season we tried to force things a bit too much in the last five or 10 minutes, but we learned from it and we spoke about it as a group, and hopefully we can turn things around on Saturday.”
De Allende said England’s performance to secure a 25-25 draw against New Zealand last week showed that they are a force to be reckoned with.
“One can never write them off,” said De Allende. “We all saw the last few minutes of their clash against the All Blacks last week.
“We always give them the respect they deserve, and hopefully we'll pitch up on Saturday and deliver a consistent performance.”
