FAF IS BACK

FAF de Klerk has been roped in as scrumhalf cover for the Springboks’ two Rugby Championship Test matches against the All Blacks in New Zealand.

The back-to-back Rugby World Cup-winning scrummie’s inclusion sees the Springbok squad for their two-game tour of New Zealand increase to 36 members, although Bok management revealed that hooker Bongi Mbonambi did not fly out with the team last week.  

Mbonambi is set to join the squad at a later stage, after attending to a “family matter”.

South Africa face the All Blacks on Saturday, where the Kiwis have put their unbeaten record at Auckland’s Eden Park up for grabs in both sides’ quest to win this year’s Rugby Championship.

The last time the All Blacks lost at Eden Park was in 1994 against France, and the last time South Africa won a Test there was in 1937.

To end the All Blacks’ streak at their fortress, Bok defence coach Jerry Flannery said that the world champions will have to fire in all departments of the game.

Of striking the right balance between attack and defence, Flannery explained: “I think we’ve been a little inconsistent so far this season.

“We’ve had some really good performances, especially against the Barbarians and in our second Test against Italy, but I don’t think we’ve really hit the heights that we are looking for yet, so we need to be at our best.

“We conceded more tries than we would have liked to in the first Test against Australia.

“We definitely overplayed a bit in that match [which the Boks lost 38-22], which took some juice out of our legs, but we feel we have good plans going into the matches against New Zealand.”

The Irish tackle guru expects the All Blacks to park their running game for the two clashes against the Boks, especially after the New Zealanders were klapped 29-23 by Argentina in Buenos Aires last weekend.

He added: “They’ve tightened up the way they play by mauling a lot more, and that’s going to be something we have to work on.

“From our perspective, our maul defence hasn’t been where we want it to be yet...

“Their maul is going to be a challenge for us as well.”