Springbok assistant coach Daan Human said on Monday they were preparing for an epic encounter against Wales at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday in their penultimate match before launching their Rugby World Cup title defence in France.
The team touched down in Cardiff on Sunday evening and immediately got down to business on Monday with a series of team meetings, as well as a gym and field training session.
With Wales having recorded an encouraging home victory and narrow away defeat against England in their last two matches – and the hosts entering the match with a good track record in Cardiff against the Springboks in the last few years – Human and Kleyn were realistic about the challenge that awaited them.
“It’s going to be an arm wrestle of a match,” said Human.
“They won four of their last five matches against us in Wales and they’ll use that as motivation. In the 2019 World Cup semi-final we got a last-minute penalty to beat them, so we know what we are in for.
“They are well coached, they can take you to the gutters, and they come off a tough training camp, so we need to perform well if we want the result.”
Human added: “From our perspective, we’d like to be more effective within our systems and the way we do things, and that’s our focus this week, rather than the World Cup.”
With Springbok head coach Jacques Nienaber set to name his 23-man squad for the clash on Tuesday, Human hinted that the coaches planned to switch their focus to building combinations as they gear up for the global showpiece which kicks off on Friday 8 September in France.
“In the last few matches, we tried to be fair to everyone to give them a chance to put up their hands for the Rugby World Cup squad, but we’ll probably start settling combinations,” said Human.