Springbok tighthead prop Frans Malherbe is bracing for a tough scrum battle against the All Blacks when the teams meet in their Rugby Championship opener at the Mbombela Stadium on Saturday.
It was contrasting performances for the two packs during their incoming tours in July, with the Bok pack putting in a strong shift overall against Wales, while the All Blacks pack struggled in their series defeat against Ireland.
Despite this Malherbe is keenly aware of the dangers of underestimating the visitors and believes that they will bring their A game on the weekend.
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“I don’t want to point anything out but it’s still the All Blacks scrum. It will always be good. I don’t know what more I can say about that,” said Malherbe.
“If you underestimate them you will be in big trouble. So I think the All Black scrum is proper and I don’t think they are missing anything.
“We just try to put our focus on us getting better. I thought we got better during the Welsh series and that was the focus last week during our prep camp, to keep getting better at our stuff. For me personally the set piece will always be important and it’s my primary job.”
Special occasion
Playing in the smaller cities is always a fun occasion for the Boks and Malherbe is excited to see the fans turn out in their numbers on Saturday night for the first ever game against the All Blacks in the city.
“I think the fact that it’s a home game for us it will be special. When you go to places like Nelspruit (Mbombela) or Port Elizabeth (Gqeberha), places that don’t get a lot of Test rugby, it is always special,” said Malherbe.
“People always come out in full force and it is going to be awesome again this weekend at the Mbombela Stadium.
“With the change of the competition and back to back games in South Africa, obviously this weekend and next week at Ellis Park, it’s going to be big.”
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