Springbok captain Siya Kolisi said it would be a massive mistake to underestimate Japan going into their opening clash in the November Internationals at Wembley Stadium on Saturday at 18:10 (SA Team), and stressed the importance of delivering on their own standards to start their five-match tour on a positive note.
Kolisi said: “We’ll treat Japan with the respect they deserve. We all saw what they did last week against Australia, who beat us earlier this year, and one could see how tight that match was.”
“We have a few players who play in Japan, and who have warned us about some of the players we will be facing, so our preparation has been good, and we feel well prepared for this game.”
Kolisi also said the Boks were determined to get their tour off to a good start, especially with clashes lined up against France, Italy, Ireland, and Wales as part of the Castle Lager Outgoing Tour in the next four weeks.
“We’d also like to start our tour on a strong note, so we don’t see this as a warm-up game at all,” said the Bok captain.
“It will be a special day for all of us. I’m also excited for Zachary (Porthen), who is playing his first Test, so we’d like to make it special for him as well.”
Interestingly, Kolisi has faced Japan in all three outings between the teams dating back to 2015, and he said he had taken some valuable lessons from those games.
“The first match against them as a group (in 2019) is the one we could really take into account because it was completely different in 2015,” said Kolisi.
“But what we’ve learned is that we need to be who we are as South Africans, so we must try to dominate the game physically and control the breakdown because they play fast rugby.
“They are also a team that doesn’t go away. They are very effective, well structured, and they know their systems well, so it will be about the team that can impose themselves on the day.”