Kolbe expected back for second All Black showdown
Springbok superstar Cheslin Kolbe is expected to be fit for
this weekends final Rugby Championship clash with the All Blacks after missing
all three test matches in Australia due to injury.
Kolbe picked up a knock in training a week before the first test against Australia and was able to return to train for two weeks, but Springbok management weren’t willing to risk the wing in last weekend’s loss to New Zealand.
Despite for the injury to Marco van Staden who missed training on Monday due to a shoulder injury all the other players were in training.
The Springboks will be happy to have Kolbe back in line for selection and the flyer will given them another dimension to an attack that has been stale in recent weeks with kicking being the default of the Bok backline.
ALSO READ: Springboks sticking with the kicking for All Blacks rematch
The three losses in a row against the Wallabies and New Zealand in the past three weeks, Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth and the team have a lot of motivation to finish their Rugby Championship campaign with a strong performance this weekend.
“It’s a huge honour for us to play in a Springbok jersey, it doesn’t matter who we are playing against,” Etzebeth said.
“Obviously we have four test matches left in the year and unfortunately, we can’t win the Rugby Championship this year, but we are going to go out fully prepared for this weekend.
Back at it in Gold Coast 👊#StrongerTogether #StrongerForever #RSAvNZL pic.twitter.com/k3Edtvxrxq
— Springboks (@Springboks) September 27, 2021
“There is a massive buzz in the team to play against them (New Zealand) again and hopefully we can get the result and then look ahead to the end of the year tour.”
The Springboks conceded at the death to lose the test match to the All Blacks and tactics have come into question, however assistant coach of the Springboks Deon Davids admits that the players could have done things different.
“We would look at it and be the first to say that maybe we could have made better decisions at stages in terms of what happened,” Davids said.
“Things happen and there are different explanations as to why things went wrong, and it has to do with communication and being able to make that split second decision based on what you see in front of you.
“We would have learnt lessons from that and looking at the quality of our players they will learn from that, and we know that they will improve in those areas.”