After arriving in the UK for their three-Test Autumn Series, Andre Esterhuizen is certain that South Africa cannot afford to take their present sense of buoyancy for granted.
The Springboks, who have won the last two World Cups, further demonstrated their abilities in the Rugby Championship this summer by defeating Argentina, Australia, and New Zealand in five of their six games.
Over the following three weekends, it is anticipated that Rassie Erasmus’ strong team will add more wins against Scotland, England, and Wales.
Speaking from the team’s hotel in Edinburgh, Sharks centre Esterhuizen said, “For rugby players, it’s one day you can be at the top of the world, and the next day you can lose to anyone.”
Therefore, while having confidence and a certain aura is beneficial, you should also be aware that any team in the top 10 might easily defeat you at any time.
And rugby is that. We simply aim to be better every week and concentrate on being the best we can be throughout that week. Being at the top all the time doesn’t mean you can’t improve.
Esterhuizen thinks that one of the things that makes South Africa stand out is their perseverance.
The team has a reputation for winning close games, most notably the World Cup last year.
“Yeah, I believe that everyone talks about it, but the team fight is definitely something that everyone talks about,” he remarked.
Many people say, ‘it’s lucky, it’s this, it’s that,’ but I know that South African players have the mentality that we will fight to the very end, even if we are losing.
“We always approach every game and every battle with the mentality to win. You never stop battling, regardless of how close the margin is or whether you are ahead or behind.
According to Esterhuizen, South Africa will have to face one of the best centre partnerships on Sunday in Huw Jones, a former teammate from the Harlequins and the newly chosen captain of Scotland, Sione Tuipulotu.
He remarked, “They make a fantastic centre pair.” “We’ve seen them blow through defenders in a number of games for Glasgow and the national team.
“I know Huw Jones really well because we played together at Harlequins for a few years. He was in between places when he first joined Quins, but he eventually secured a spot and performed incredibly well.
“I know Quins didn’t really want to let him go, but in the end, he was able to move to Glasgow, where he fit right in at number thirteen and clearly returned to the Scotland squad.”
In Marseille, South Africa defeated Scotland 18-3 in the pool round to begin their World Cup run last year, but Esterhuizen is prepared for a difficult challenge at Murrayfield.
“It wasn’t an easy game at the World Cup,” he remarked. It was still a really difficult fight. When we entered the game at halftime, it was 6-3 and quite close. It’s always going to be a hard fight against Scotland.
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