Wellington is officially sold out as the All Blacks and Springboks get set to face off at the venue the visitors won at last year. Ahead of the match, we get to see a behind the scenes look at some of the break down training they have been working on.
After a strong 35-17 win over Australia in Johannesburg, the Springboks have made wholesale changes to their starting fifteen, opting for a two squad approach (see team sheets below video).
That means Kwagga Smith is one of those brought in to start against the World Champions, and he, along with Malcolm Marx, will be targeting the breakdown as an area to assert their dominance.
Both players can be seen here in this excellent breakdown training video from Supersport, as they work through a ball stealing drill and impart their knowledge on their teammates, which include centres Lukhanyo Am and Jesse Kriel.
Smith shows how hard players need to work to retrieve the ball, under pressure from the opposition (Franco Mostert) and with the ball tied up under bodies.
New Zealand
15 Beauden Barrett; 14 Ben Smith, 13 Jack Goodhue, 12 Sonny Bill Williams, 11 Rieko Ioane; 10 Richie Mo’unga, 9 TJ Perenara; 8 Kieran Read (captain), 7 Matt Todd, 6 Shannon Frizell; 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick; 3 Owen Franks, 2 Codie Taylor, 1 Joe Moody.
Substitutes: 16 Dane Coles, 17 Ofa Tu’ungafasi, 18 Angus Ta’avao, 19 Vaea Fifita, 20 Dalton Papalii, 21 Aaron Smith, 22 Anton Lienert-Brown, 23 George Bridge
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen (captain), 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Tendai Mtawarira, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Frans Steyn, 23 Jesse Kriel
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