Springboks to focus on breakdowns against All Blacks

Scrumhalf Morne van den Berg has never lost a game while playing for the Springboks.

And the number nine, affectionately known as Krappies, or little crab, does not intend breaking that winning streak when the Boks face the All Blacks in the third test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg on Saturday.

The series is poised at one game apiece with two to play, and the Boks are banking on a crowd somewhere north of 80 000 to carry them home.

The Boks are taking the All Blacks back to the highveld where the air is thinner and the rugby pitches are drier.

The whole team is excited to be back in Johannesburg after a momentous win in the second test to level the standings.

Bok replacement scrumhalf, and one of the Lions’ favourite sons, van den Berg is happy to have home ground advantage in the third test.

“Very excited to play at FNB stadium, we have trained there this week it is an absolutely incredible stadium also very excited to play a test in Johannesburg.

I think the whole team is buzzing and excited for this and to have 90+ thousand supporters there it is going to be incredible,” van den Berg explains.

The Boks are all too aware that the remaining two tests will be won or lost at the breakdowns and it is yet another aspect of their game they intend to keep imposing on their visitors.

“It was a massive work on for us after the first test unfortunately my 25 minutes was mostly defence so I think I had like three rucks and by then I think we did a very good job to force our structures on them.” van den Berg elaborates.

And that means taking on the All Blacks as a whole, and not fixating on opposite numbers, which in van den Berg’s case is the ever-dangerous Cam Roigard.

“As a scrumhalf it is really difficult if your pack is going back so for us it is just to put more pressure on them as a rather than focus to him as an individual and we obviously know what he is capable of but it is more of shutting all blacks down and not cam Roigard down.” says van den Berg.

The All-Black side to face the Boks in the third and penultimate installment of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry will be announced on Thursday.