‘Facing Scotland a final for us,’ says South African rugby star Cheslin Kolbe
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South Africa's wing Cheslin Kolbe running with the ball during the pre-World Cup Rugby Union match between Wales and South Africa at Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Aug 19. The Springboks won 52-16.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOULON – South Africa’s star winger Cheslin Kolbe said the defending champions’ opening Rugby World Cup clash with Scotland “will be a final for us”.
South Africa start their Pool B campaign against the Scots in Marseille on Sunday.
They then face top-ranked Ireland, Tonga and Romania in the group stage.
“The match against Scotland will be a final for us because we are in a difficult pool,” Kolbe told AFP on Sunday.
“We will focus on our preparation for this important match.
“We are defending champions but that was four years ago. To reproduce that requires a lot of sacrifice, hard work and cohesion.
“We want to make our country proud of us and create memories.”
Coach Jacques Nienaber, meanwhile, said that the heat and humidity of Corsica have helped preparations for their opener against Scotland.
“The players are used to the heat and humidity after training in these conditions in Corsica,” Nienaber said in an SA Rugby statement after the squad arrived in Toulon to continue their build-up.
He added: “Scotland are ranked fifth in the world, and we know what they are capable of, so it is vital that we hit the ground running from our first training session.”
The Springboks arrived in Toulon after a ferry trip from Corsica, where they spent one week after decisive victories in their final warm-up matches.
South Africa trounced Wales 52-16 in Cardiff, then scored a 35-7 victory over New Zealand at Twickenham,
New Zealand and South Africa have won the World Cup three times each.
Nienaber added later on Sunday that he pays no attention to his team’s tag as favourites to clinch a fourth World Cup.
“It has no influence on us. Whether we are favourites or not will not make us better than Scotland,” he said.
“I understand the concept and it is history, but only our preparation will have an impact on this game.”
However, Scotland fly half Finn Russell says his side face an uphill battle to emerge from a stacked group.
After their Pool B opener against the holders, they confront Tonga, Romania and Ireland in that order.
The Scots have reached the World Cup knockout stage just once since 2007 but are in good form. They have won seven of their past 10 Tests.
“It’s going to be such a tough battle to get out of this group,” the 30-year-old Russell told AFP.
“That’s got to be our main focus. We can’t start looking ahead, we’ve got to just make sure that we do everything we can to try and get out of this group,” he added.
Despite Scotland’s impressive recent results, their record against the Springboks is poor. They have beaten them just twice since the turn of the century.
“I think if we get them first up, then no matter what the result is, win or lose, we’ve got 13 days to switch off and refocus,” Russell said.
“Switch off for a few days, refocus back into that Tonga game. It’s quite a good first-up game.” AFP
