Boks to turn it on at Twickenham
11/12/2024 10:05 AM
Tony Brown is thrilled with the progress of the Springbok attack under his tutelage, as the world champions navigate a quick turnaround for Saturday's clash against England.
The teams cross swords at Twickenham for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup semi-final, with the Boks arriving in the English capital on the back of a four-tries-to-nil victory over Scotland on Sunday.
The South Africans travelled from Edinburgh to London on Monday before kick-starting preparations for their second Test of a three-match tour on Tuesday. Rassie Erasmus's charges are set to tackle Wales in Cardiff next week.
Assistant coach Brown and team doctor Jerome Mampane fronted the media on Tuesday and were aligned in the team's approach to the week to ensure that they deliver their best performance possible on Saturday.
Rassie Erasmus will only announce his match-day 23 on Thursday but asked if the team selection was planned in advance with a short training week and several key players sitting out the 32-15 victory at Murrayfield, Brown said the Bok coach "always has an overall plan in mind".
"It's always tough with a short turnaround because you lose a training day, so the players need to adapt," said Brown.
"That said, we are doing our best to ensure that they are fresh physically and mentally for the match."
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Mampane added: "We have changed our programme this week, but there are still targets the coaches want to achieve, and everyone has planned things in such a way to ensure that the players are as fresh as possible in each contest."
In his first year as a member of Erasmus' staff, Brown was satisfied with how the Boks' attack was evolving, yet insists there's room for improvement as the back-to-back World Cup winners build towards Australia 2027.
"There's fantastic talent in this team, so it is encouraging for me to find ways to see how we can improve our game and try to create a better attacking style of play," the former All Blacks flyhalf said.
"I've been encouraged to try and change the way they look at the game and use the natural ability around their X-factor, physicality, and size to create an attacking game which will hopefully put us in a position to become one of the best attacking teams in the world.
"The players are buying into what I'm selling, and what I'm trying to drive. And the biggest thing for me with attacking with the Springboks is that we've still got to attack the way the Springboks play the game, which is really physical, on top of the gainline.
"I'm never ever going to come in and teach the Springboks how to play like the All Blacks – I'm going to teach the Springboks to attack like Springboks. We're starting to understand what that looks like, and 100% this time next year we've got to improve a massive amount as well."
Photo: Steve Haag Sports/Gallo Images
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