'No such word as warm up': All Blacks fighting for legacy of the jersey

The potential for wounds and bans won’t phase the All Blacks when they line up against the Springboks at Twickenham this weekend.

The clash with their famous foes acts as the final run before the Rugby World Cup kicks off on September ninth. The New Zealand side will have to hit the ground running in the tournament as they face hosts France on opening night.

Short-term injuries to lock Brodie Retallick and flanker Shannon Frizell have ruled the pair out for both the Springbok and France tests while for other nations, each week of warm-up games has claimed more victims through ill-discipline or injury.

Losing a player this close to the tournament is a worst-case scenario for any team but the Kiwis are putting zero energy into that idea.

“That’s not even in our thought process,” Ardie Savea told reporters in England. “We understand what’s been going on with the cards so we’ve been trying our best to be able to practice good technique and make sure that we don’t put ourselves in that position.

“But it’s footy, sometimes you get it wrong, so hopefully this weekend we can go out there and nothing comes of it.

“We’ve talked about there’s no such word as warm-up for us. Every time we put on that black jersey, every time we run out, we’re trying to do the jersey proud and do the legacy proud.

“So that’s kind of out of our vocabulary at the moment, we want to go out there firing and banging.”

Savea added insight of his personal approach to the match in addition to the team’s mentality.

“For me, every test is hard and that’s just an internal kind of gut feel that I put upon myself, in the standard that every game is hard and tough and you mentally prepare for that.

“I think playing this game against South Africa, leading up to what’s next is important.”

Having beaten the Boks in round two of The Rugby Championship, Savea and the All Blacks know where the game was won and how the South Africans will want to respond accordingly.

“They’re big men and they’re physical, and they’ll be looking at that last test around the first 20 (minutes) and they’ll want to come out firing nullify us.

“the way we started with Aussie, if we give that to South Africa we’re going to have a long day at the office.

“They pose a massive threat around their physicality, their threats around the breakdown, so we’ve just got to nail our structures, our game plan and be ready and stay ready for things that don’t go our way.”

Head-to-Head

Last 5 Meetings

Wins

1

Draws

0

Wins

4

Average Points scored

18

23

First try wins

60%

Home team wins

60%

A win would further the team’s positive momentum heading into what could be a pivotal opening match clash in Paris.

Savea and the 15 other squad members who featured at the 2019 World Cup in Japan are looking to “rectify” the result of that tournament, which saw the team bow out in a semi-final defeat to England.

While The No 8 claims to have a bad memory, a wry grin enveloped his face when asked whether the pain of the 2019 campaign was present in his mental preparations for this year’s title run, admitting the memory was “stored.”

“Yes. Yep, that’s all I can say. It’s good. Stored.”