Springboks prop Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira says Saturday's winner-takes-all series decider against Ireland will be a high-pressure cup final battle where the margins for error will be small.
Locked at 1-1 in an evenly-matched confrontation, Mtawarira and his pack will bid to soften their Irish counterparts in a bid to clinch the series at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The burly crowd favourite, who will have the 43000-strong capacity crowd screaming “Beeeeast” whenever he grabs the ball, says it will be a hard-fought contest.
“This is why you play rugby and it is a final on Saturday,” Mtawarira said after a training session in Port Elizabeth. “This is a high pressure match and there will not be many opportunities and we will have to take the ones that come our way.
“Everyone is excited and there is a big buzz in the camp this week. “We have got some confidence now and so we can go into this game and believe that we can do it.
“The team would love to give coach Allister Coetzee a good start to his coaching career with the Springboks.
“We are going to work very hard to give him that,” Mtawarira promised. The powerful front-rower said the Boks had worked hard on their scrumming technique under coach Matt Proudfoot yesterday.
“The Irish are a formidable side upfront. As a team we have been improving and we scrummed well in Johannesburg. But we could have done better on their ball.
“This a work-in-progress and it is something we are working hard on every week and we want to improve this coming Saturday.
“With coach Matt we want to set high standards and we are happy on our ball but not so happy on their ball. So we want to work harder on combating them and getting them penalised at scrum time,” said Mtawarira.
The veteran of 77 Tests said it did take time for the team to gel after a break between Test matches. “It takes a little time to get together. But two Tests is enough to get the synergy going and I think we have it now and we must step and deliver on Saturday,” said Mtawarira.
“So far I think we have been scrumming well, but there are just little things that we want to keep on getting better at.”
Mtawarira said his team would be wary of an Irish second shove at scrum-time.
“We went to sleep quite a bit on the second shove. The boys thought the ball was out and it was not out and the Irish kept on scrumming.
“So it’s just a whole team effort and the pack has to work together until the ball is out. It was a little bit of miscommunication that can easily be sorted out.”
Mtawarira said he was enjoying his role as one of the leaders in the team.
“For me, leading by my actions is the most important thing and also helping out the youngsters.
“I have been very fortunate to play at this level for a long time. “There are certain things I am still learning and I want to keep on getting better.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm in the camp and the youngsters just want to play and enjoy themselves. But we have to have that fine balance that we are good in our detail and that we have composure as well,” he said.
“We showed in the second-half of the last game in Johannesburg we can play and we have to start like that on Saturday.
“It will take a big effort to beat Ireland and we will have to start much better than we did in the second Test.
“So we must start well and make sure our discipline is good and make sure we cut all those little errors we made when we got to their 22 when we could have scored a couple of tries.
“In Port Elizabeth we must eradicate those and make sure we are much better when we get the in attack zone. When we are there we must put some points on the board and create scoreboard pressure.”
Bringing out the ‘Beast’ in Bok front row
Locked at 1-1 in an evenly-matched confrontation, Mtawarira and his pack will bid to soften their Irish counterparts in a bid to clinch the series at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. The burly crowd favourite, who will have the 43000-strong capacity crowd screaming “Beeeeast” whenever he grabs the ball, says it will be a hard-fought contest.
“This is why you play rugby and it is a final on Saturday,” Mtawarira said after a training session in Port Elizabeth. “This is a high pressure match and there will not be many opportunities and we will have to take the ones that come our way.
“Everyone is excited and there is a big buzz in the camp this week. “We have got some confidence now and so we can go into this game and believe that we can do it.
“The team would love to give coach Allister Coetzee a good start to his coaching career with the Springboks.
“We are going to work very hard to give him that,” Mtawarira promised. The powerful front-rower said the Boks had worked hard on their scrumming technique under coach Matt Proudfoot yesterday.
“The Irish are a formidable side upfront. As a team we have been improving and we scrummed well in Johannesburg. But we could have done better on their ball.
“This a work-in-progress and it is something we are working hard on every week and we want to improve this coming Saturday.
“With coach Matt we want to set high standards and we are happy on our ball but not so happy on their ball. So we want to work harder on combating them and getting them penalised at scrum time,” said Mtawarira.
The veteran of 77 Tests said it did take time for the team to gel after a break between Test matches. “It takes a little time to get together. But two Tests is enough to get the synergy going and I think we have it now and we must step and deliver on Saturday,” said Mtawarira.
“So far I think we have been scrumming well, but there are just little things that we want to keep on getting better at.”
Mtawarira said his team would be wary of an Irish second shove at scrum-time.
“We went to sleep quite a bit on the second shove. The boys thought the ball was out and it was not out and the Irish kept on scrumming.
“So it’s just a whole team effort and the pack has to work together until the ball is out. It was a little bit of miscommunication that can easily be sorted out.”
Mtawarira said he was enjoying his role as one of the leaders in the team.
“For me, leading by my actions is the most important thing and also helping out the youngsters.
“I have been very fortunate to play at this level for a long time. “There are certain things I am still learning and I want to keep on getting better.
“There is a lot of enthusiasm in the camp and the youngsters just want to play and enjoy themselves. But we have to have that fine balance that we are good in our detail and that we have composure as well,” he said.
“We showed in the second-half of the last game in Johannesburg we can play and we have to start like that on Saturday.
“It will take a big effort to beat Ireland and we will have to start much better than we did in the second Test.
“So we must start well and make sure our discipline is good and make sure we cut all those little errors we made when we got to their 22 when we could have scored a couple of tries.
“In Port Elizabeth we must eradicate those and make sure we are much better when we get the in attack zone. When we are there we must put some points on the board and create scoreboard pressure.”
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