CAPE TOWN: South Africa will treat Saturday’s crucial third Test against Wales as a ‘final’, which Lock Lood de Jager believes will be a valuable experience as they look ahead to defending their Rugby World Cup title in France next year.
The series is suspended 1-1 after the Springboks clinched a 32-29 win in Pretoria but lost the second Test in Bloemfontein last weekend 13-12.
It’s been a changed squad and coach Jacques Nienaber has the squad back to near full strength for Saturday’s third and final game in Cape Town, with De Jager himself back in the starting XI.
“In big games like this it’s always important to dominate physically, that’s the key to the result and we don’t expect anything less on Saturday,” De Jager told reporters on Wednesday.
“For us this is a final, the series is at stake and Wales feel the same way. We have big games ahead of us this year and next, so it will be good for us to get used to pressure games like this. “
One of the hallmarks of the series was how well Wales handled the Boks’ physical strikers and powerful punch.
“Wales have good strikers and they’re big on their set pieces so the fights in the scrums, lanes and mauls will be big,” says De Jager.
“The performance in the last two games has been good but I think we can be a bit more disciplined and put more pressure on the scoreboard.
“So it’s little things that we have to work on. At the end of the day we have to be as disciplined as we possibly can.”