Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer believes Saturday's clash with Scotland will be ideal preparations for the 2015 World Cup in England.
Meyer, who has experience of coaching in the Premiership with Leicester Tigers, said although avoiding another loss to Scotland was important, he wants his players to get used to the kind of damp, heavy conditions they can expect to encounter at the global showpiece.
"Here every single facet of play is an unbelievable battle," he said.
"These guys scrum for penalties, it's not just the start of the game.
"One big difference is the breakdown. I think Scotland are superb at the breakdown, if you just look at what happened against New Zealand.
"It's more fierce, it's more a battle and more physical, I believe, because it's a little bit slower and you need a different type of player.
"With the World Cup being here the more we can play here the better."
Meanwhile, Springbok lock Juandré Kruger has warned his team-mates of the threat which Scotland tighthead prop Euan Murray could pose in Saturday's Test.
Murray was recalled after missing Scotland's defeat against New Zealand last Sunday due to religious reasons.
Kruger and Murray were team-mates when the Springbok played for Northampton Saints in the Premiership two seasons ago.
"I played with Euan for two seasons at Northampton Saints in England," he told Die Burger newspaper.
"And everyone knows he is one of the top scrummagers in the world."
Murray played in Scotland's 21-17 victory over South Africa at Murrayfield in 2010 and was named man-of-the-match when the Boks cliamed a narrow 14-10 win at the same venue in 2008.
Kruger highlighted how important the set-pieces are for the Boks especially after they registered a 100 percent success rate in the line-outs and scrums against Ireland last week.
"We put a lot of emphasis on scrummaging, kick-offs and line-outs - because that's where the foundation is laid," he said.
South Africa's win over Ireland was an important one as it saw them trading places with Australia - who suffered a humiliating defeat to France - in the IRB rankings.
"We moved to number two in the world rankings after Dublin and for us that is very important as it is our aim to become the best team in the world," said Kruger.
"That is why we are very serious about winning all the matches on this tour and why we definitely won't be underestimating Scotland."
Comments
phillipk says...
Problem you get in focusing too much on the event in four years, you don't get the continual top edge players all the time, your team goes in cycles that is very up and down. This can explain the slumps that have happened to the world cup winners previously. The AB's may not be perfect, but they have little slumps comparitively. Consistancy may not win World Cups, but they keep the AB's on a pedistal that others continue to fail to acheive. Think of the awe factor that teams have to overcome, SA could have maintained this as well, unfortunatley no foundation in their players is made on a continual basis - where is their 2nd string players getting top games, this at the moment only happens when the top ones are injured. AB's have the Juniors playing most years or a Maori team plodding off as well, couple that with a thinking approach to sabaticals, resting and a more responsible rotation in place ensures there is plenty of depth in most positions.
Posted 18:56 16th November 2012
melkdave says...
As usual i have no idea just what HM is talking anout.Its 3 yrs out from the 2015 RWC,and any player playing tommorow will have long forgotten how the conditions at Murryfield in aurtum 2012 felt .Also are they not going to tour europe again till 2015 then? ?i very much dought that ,utter nonsense from HM the master of double talk and clap-trap,concerning his team,and giving us fans anything useful at all LOL.
Also yes very bad news on Maleli Kunavore and at only 29 ,
Posted 14:19 16th November 2012
Grog says...
All rubbish.
HM under pressure trying to secure his position long term .
last we heard this twaddle it was Strauli"judge me on the World Cup ....and SARU fell for it.
Hopefully SARU has learnt its lessons and change comes sooner rather than later .
Worst Bok coach with Strauli and Viljoen , since 1974.
Incredible .
Posted 12:57 16th November 2012
dafyddg84 says...
this is linking from the "Fijian Tragedy" page which I assume is the news of Maleli Kunavore, but if you could rectify this, it would be appreciated.
RIP Male.
Posted 12:37 16th November 2012
philipjfry says...
I say f-k the WC; why do the Springboks always focus on a tournament that takes place every 4 years? The Championship and home dominance is way more important.
"We put a lot of emphasis on scrummaging, kick-offs and line-outs - because that's where the foundation is laid," he said.
That's all good and well but the Boks didn't attempt one set piece move from first phase ball against Ireland. Waste of possession if you ask me.
Posted 11:59 16th November 2012