Kolisi brushes off ‘favourites’ tag ahead of All Blacks clash
Springbok captain Siya Kolisi expects another epic encounter against arch-rivals New Zealand in their opening Rugby Championship Test in Mbombela on Saturday.
Speaking on Friday, Kolisi said there was no bigger challenge for the All Blacks to lift themselves following their recent series defeat to Ireland.
“The All Blacks are a team that just don’t stop, so it will require an 80-minute performance to defeat them. They have players in the starting lineup and on the bench who are game breakers, and we need to ensure we execute our plan no matter what the score is.”
Kolisi brushed off suggestions that the home side were the “favourites” going into the game.
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“How we see it as a group is that we haven’t beaten the All Blacks at home in eight years,” said Kolisi.
“We cannot control what happens in the All Blacks camp, but we can control what we do. We know what we want to do, and we would like our plans to work well. We are playing against an amazing side.
“We’ve been in a situation before where we lost two matches in a row, and what we learned is that it takes one game to kick-start a team, so we do not see ourselves as favourites at all.”
