Georgia will provide solid test for Boks

Given the fact that the Springboks haven’t played an international match since they won the World Cup at the end of 2019, any match-time for the squad before the Lions arrive in July will be welcome and Terblanche thinks Georgia will test the Boks in the right areas.

“You need that game fitness and that time on the field,” the 37 cap Springbok said. “Georgia will certainly test us at scrum time with their big pack of forwards.

“They scrum well, and they have a good line-out and going into a series against the Lions set-piece is going to be crucial and often where games are won and lost so we are going to need a few tough, hard outings before.”

The Lions announced their squad for the tour last week with a number of surprises in the squad with a few Lions stalwarts missing out on selection. Despite the surprises and a few unfamiliar names, Terblanche knows that with Warren Gatland at the helm they will be more than competitive.

“Gatland has been successful with the Lions in Australian and New Zealand and he got the selection right so he’s a wily old character and a great coach and I think he’s got the best team for the way he wants to play.

“A lot of South Africans might look at the team and not know or be so familiar with all the names but trust me when they come together as a Lions team from the four nations, they are formidable and this tour should be no different.”

Having a squad that can match the physicality of the Springboks would have been at the top of the priority list for Gatland. To compete and dominate the set-piece will be a vital battle for the Lions when they face the Boks in the three test series.

“The Boks start with a massive pack of forwards and then bring on a bigger pack of forwards off the bench so he (Gatland) will look to negate that and then also find ways to cope with our set-piece.

“He’ll pick as big a pack of forwards as he can and maybe a fetcher to try and slow our ball down on attack but he’ll go for size and hope that he can at least match the Springboks blow-for-blow up front,” Terblanche added.

The Springbok game plan often fits into a specific mould with a strong forward pack providing the basis for a game that involves territory rather than possession. Terblanche believes we might see a shift away from this but the Springbok basics need to fire if they are to move away from that conservative approach.

“When you haven’t played in so long you have to play with structure,” he explained. “People often want us to play an expansive game of rugby but you don’t get that if you don’t have a strong set-piece or proper structure you can’t play that game.

“I don’t see us moving away from our traditional game plan but you also never know with Rassie (Erasmus) because we mixed it up in the World Cup final after playing conservative rugby the whole way to the final.

“There will be one or two surprises but with us not having played in so long set-piece and structure will be crucial.”