‘It doesn’t get tougher than this,’ says Boks captain Kolisi before series decider against All Blacks

Before the fourth and final Test of the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series against New Zealand, Springbok captain Siya Kolisi and assistant coach Mzwandile Stick made it clear that they want to win the series.

They go into the decider in Baltimore, US, on Saturday (11pm, SA time), leading 2-1, and the extra motivation is that the match will mark coach Rassie Erasmus’s 100th Test match in his two roles with the Springboks since his appointment in 2018, as head coach and director of rugby.

“We don’t want to draw it, and that has been our mindset this week. The All Blacks have brought in new players, and we’ve had to look at them and what they could bring differently this weekend, so we’ve done our homework.

“But the key thing for us will be to make sure we enforce our game on them and pitch up physically on the day.

“We’ve all seen in the past three games that if you are not at your best, they have what it takes to punish you. But so do we, and we want to make sure we keep making our people proud.”

Kolisi elaborated on the magnitude of the match and the series: “We’re growing and learning on the go, because it is a tough series and we’re playing the same opposition four times in a row.

Siya Kolisi: “In my experience, it doesn’t get tougher than this. It’s like playing four Rugby World Cup finals in as many weeks” - more here: https://t.co/mq6kCQ3xYH #Springboks #ForeverGreenForeverGold #RugbysGreatestRivalry pic.twitter.com/2nKJbyBsry

“They get to know you, and you get to know them, so you have to find other ways and other weaknesses. This week we’re playing almost a new All Blacks team compared with last week, and Richie Mo’unga brings a different dynamic, so it might be different from the other games.

“In my experience, it doesn’t get tougher than this. It’s like playing four Rugby World Cup finals in as many weeks given the quality of both teams. We both want to enforce our style of play on the game.

“We may be leading the series, but we know on the other side they are desperate to level it up, so we want to make sure we finish properly tomorrow [Saturday].”

Stick said it was no surprise to the Bok coaches that Mo’unga would start the match at flyhalf after the All Blacks’ team announcement on Thursday, and he shared his skipper’s sentiments about what the team had to do to be victorious in the inaugural series.

“Richie is world class, and we know him well. Ruben Love has also been playing really well as one of the young and upcoming stars in that team.

“I think the All Blacks are going to be even more bold tomorrow when it comes to keeping the ball alive and using the wide channels, and we know how dangerous they are.

“But we’ve played against them many times, and the most important aspect for us is to enforce our game on them physically and go from there. They have a top-class team, and they’re desperate to level the series. But we are also a passionate nation and we want to make our country proud.”