We don’t fear All Blacks - Meyer
Bok coach Heyneke Meyer has urged his team to be fearless and believe that they can beat New Zealand.
|||Guildford – The All Blacks have beaten many of their opposition long before getting on the actual field and playing the game because of the fear and the aura the world champions have built since being crowned world champions four years ago.
However, in the build up to one of the most anticipated Rugby World Cup semi-finals of all time between the All Blacks and Springboks, fear has been replaced by a nervous excitement and the belief that the New Zealanders are not invincible.
As much as the history between the two teams, especially since Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer took over the reins from Peter de Villiers four years ago, has been heavily in favour of the All Blacks with a win record of six out of the last seven matches, Meyer has urged his team to be fearless and believe that victory is theirs come Saturday at Twickenham.
Meyer’s unwavering belief in his team also stems from his team being the only team in the world that has consistently come close to beating the All Blacks in the past four years and even though they have managed to do so once, the All Blacks will be wary of the threat the Springboks always pose against them.
“I don’t want to sound disrespectful but I love playing against the All Blacks. It is probably the easiest game to motivate a team, I don’t have to motivate them. It’s not about the fear, we do respect them but we also have to believe that we can beat them and most of the guys have beaten them. But it is more excitement, it doesn’t get bigger than this. You know as a coach it can go either way and up to the last second. I live for these games,” Meyer said.
While history has served as a good foundation for the age old rivalry, it is the epic battles in recent memory that has the Springboks relishing the prospect of getting one over their rival more so with rugby’s coveted prize at stake.
The only way in which the Springboks have learnt to play against the All Blacks is to play fire with fire and according to Meyer his team won’t hold back on Saturday.
“If you are going to play the All Blacks you have to be excited obviously you have to also respect them. But you have to believe that you can win and you have to put your body on the line and just play. The one thing that you can’t do is to sit back. You can’t keep them out for 80 minutes if you just have a defensive mindset. You have to go out there, get the ball in your hand and attack for 90 minutes. We’ve been close a few times but hopefully Saturday we can take it all the way,” said Meyer.