By Gavin Rich.
The Springboks are planning to let actions do the talking when they front the anticipated Welsh abrasiveness in Saturday’s second Castle Lager Rugby Series clash in Bloemfontein.
So says Bok tighthead prop Trevor Nyakane, who has arrived back in his home country on leave from his French club, Racing 92, feeling even tougher and more resilient than he was before he left to take up his contract.
Welsh captain Dan Biggar left nothing to the imagination when he said after last week’s game at Loftus that his team haven’t come to South Africa to make friends and that it would be silly for anyone to think they were just going to roll out the red carpet for the Boks. Wales did really get under the Bok skins last week, and they felt they got something out of it. They plan to be even more difficult this week.
But while Nyakane says they need to make a point of not falling into the trap Wales are setting for them to be deflected from their task, he also makes it clear that they won’t let the visitors get away with it. He says this week the Boks will be silent bullies.
“Most teams try to get under our skins and while you want to fight fire with fire, you must also be smart,” said Nyakane.
“You do not want to get sent off for saying something ridiculous or doing something that is not worthy of the Bok colours. So it is going to be tough because we know they are going to do their best to unsettle us but we know the best way to deal with it is to be silent bullies, and that is exactly what we are going to do.
“We want to inflict pain, we want to inflict our physicality so if they are going to be doing their talking and doing whatever it is they do best, we will let them and we will do what we do best.”
Nyakane also thinks the Welsh might be in for a bit of a surprise when they run out onto the Toyota Park field having spent only two days in Bloemfontein, where he learned his rugby. Instead of going to South Africa’s judicial capital at the start of the week, like the Boks did, Wales are only traveling down on Thursday.
“It is a different ball game here in Bloem and we know it so well, so that is why we came here early,” said the 33-year-old.
“It is hard to breathe, it feels dry, it feels like there is not enough oxygen. It is difficult to play in Bloem and when I was with the Cheetahs we always knew it was tougher for the visiting teams. That was why we called it the ‘’begraaf plaas’ (cemetery), because it is so hard to play here.”
He didn’t say it out straight, but reading between the lines, Nyakane might also have learned a few new tricks of the front-row trade that he is preparing to inflict on his direct opposition (the Welsh team is to be named at lunch time on Thursday).
“It has been quite a rugby education in France. In the southern hemisphere, the way rugby is coached and officiated is very different to France. We do it by the book here but there I learned the hard way that in France often you are on your own. It is very physical week in and week out. Whether you are playing the team on top or bottom, any day you can take a hiding.
“And up there some of their backs look like forwards, they are that scary, but I have learned that I have to man up and fight my own battles. The game is a bit slower but it is relentlessly tough and if you are not mentally prepared you are going to get hammered.”