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'It's a big task to fill Duane's boots': Wiese on impressive TRC campaign

Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images

The Springboks might not have won the Rugby Championship, however they head into their year-end tour with a formidable No.8 – Jasper Wiese.

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New Zealand won the tournament for an eighth time on Saturday after South Africa failed to secure a bonus point and a wide winning margin when beating Argentina 38-21 in Durban.

The Springboks needed a bonus point in the final match of the tournament and victory by at least 39 points to pip the All Blacks for first place.

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“It is always tough playing Argentina,” Wiese said, adding: “They put on a hell of a performance. Lucky we got the win, but it’s a bit disappointing not to win the Rugby Championship.

“We wanted to get the [winning] margin we needed, but unfortunately we couldn’t get it. But we got the win over a very tough side.”

The result was bittersweet for the Boks, especially for Wiese, who scored his first Test try on Saturday.

The No.8 delivered yet another amazing performance which saw him named the man of the match.

“I must give it to the more experienced guys that have helped me settle in,” said Wiese.

“There’s tough competition within the team, and we keep pushing one another to play well. So, I certainly can’t take credit as an individual.”

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Competing with experienced campaigner Duane Vermeulen for the No 8 jumper, Wiese relished the challenge and said he hoped to continue growing as a player going forward.

“For me, it is always important to perform well,” he said.

“It’s a big task to fill someone like Duane’s boots, but I have learned a lot from him.

“It would be great to tour with the team at the end of the year, and there are things I definitely would like to work on, such as improving on my mistakes and becoming a better player.”

Turning his attention to the year-end tour which features Tests against Ireland, France, Italy and England, as well as two-midweek games, the No.8 said: ” The [Rugby Champs] was great preparation for the year-end tour.

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“It’s going to be a tough tour, and the momentum we built up in the last few weeks [winning three consecutive games] will certainly be valuable for the side.”

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1 Comment
B
Bobbyboi 787 days ago

Evan Roos deserves another chance

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JW 1 hour ago
Let's be real about these All Blacks

I didn't really get the should tone from it, but maybe because I was just reading it as my own thoughts.


What I read it as was examples of how they played well enough in every game to be able to win it.


Yeah I dunno if Ben wouldn't see it that way (someone else would for sure need to point it out to him though), I'm more in the Ben not appreciating that those close losses werent one off scenarios camp. Sure you can look at dubious decisions causing them to have to play with 14 or 13 men at the death as viable reasons but even in the games they won without such difficulties they made a real struggle of it (compared to how good some of their first half play was). This kind of article where you trying to point out the 3 losses really would most likely have been wins only really makes sense/works when your other performances make those 3 games (or endings) stand out.


There might have been a sentence here and there to ensure some good comment numbers but when he's signing off the article by saying things like ..

Whilst these All Blacks aren’t blowing teams off the park like during the 2010s, they are nuggety and resourceful and don’t wilt. They are prepared to win the hard way, accumulating points by any means necessary.

and..

The other top sides in the world struggled to put them away. France and South Africa both could have well been defeated on home soil.

I don't really see it. Always making sure people are upto date with the SH standing/perspective! NZ went through some tough times with so many different perspectives and reasons why, but then it was.. amusing how.. behind everyone was once they turned a corner. More of these 'unfortunate' results returned against SA and France at the start of the RWC which made it extra tasty to catch other teams out when they did bring it. So that created some 'conscious' perspective that I just kept going and sharing re thoughts on similar predicaments of other teams, I had been really confident that Wallabies displays vs NZ were real, that the Argentines can backup their thing against Aus and SA (and so obviously the rest), and current one is that England are actually consistent and improving with their attack (which everyone should get onboard with), and I'm expecting a more dominant display against Japan (even though they should have more of their experienced internationals for this one) that highlights further growth from July. 👍

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