Springbok player Jesse Kriel during a press conference Jesse Kriel is bullish about the chances of the Springboks ahead of their Rugby Championship clash against the All Blacks at Ellis Park on Saturday. Picture: Michael Sherman/IOL Sport
The Springboks are even better than last year when they were crowned Rugby World Cup champions, according to centre Jesse Kriel.
Kriel was speaking on Monday ahead of their Rugby Championship clash against New Zealand at Ellis Park over the weekend.
The Springboks have won their first two matches of the competition away against Australia. In fact, both matches saw the Springboks running out convincing victors - the second clash against the Wallabies saw the visitors romp to the win after making 10 changes to their side.
It’s no surprise then, that the Springboks and Kriel are bullish about their chances against the All Blacks, who have already lost one of their two Rugby Championship matches at home to Argentina.
“If you’re not better now than you were last year, you’ve got a problem,” said Kriel.
“The big thing for us is that we want to stay ahead of the curve and keep working on our individual skills to get better. I definitely believe we’re a better team than we were last year.”
“Last week we played a completely new team, with a lot of guys that weren’t in the [Rugby World Cup] final. Both teams are in a similar space in that a lot of new guys have come in and have put up their hands.”
Perhaps one of the reasons Kriel believes his side are better than last year, is the introduction of new attack coach Tony Brown.
“Brown has been massive since he’s come in. He’s got the guys in the room really excited. I think he’s got us playing a really exciting brand of rugby that the guys are enjoying. It’s nice getting onto the field and being excited about how you’re going to play.
The 30-year-old Kriel said the Springboks have simply kept building on the progress they made leading up to the World Cup.
“You can see quite a bit of change, but you keep the core of what you’ve built on for the last couple years.
“Brown has come in with some different thoughts on how he sees attacking rugby. We’ve also got a lot of guys using skills they wouldn’t normally use.
“If you look at a guy like Eben [Etzebeth], he’s got a an unbelievable pair of hands and offloading ability. If you look from one to 15, there are guys with amazing skill sets.”