Boks excited about chance to win Nations Championship – Stick and Kolisi

The Springboks take on a weakened Italy first-up, followed by Tests against France and Ireland, before the Finals Weekend. The Springboks are desperate to get their Nations Championship end-of-year-tour off to the best possible start when they take on Italy at the Allianz Stadium in Turin on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 1:40pm). It is the first of four internationals for the Boks this November with them up against France and Ireland next, before the Finals Weekend of the competition in London at the end of the month. Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick said on Friday it was important for the Boks, who currently top the South section pool, to start well if they want to finish the pool stage on top and take part in the main game at Twickenham at the end of the month. Very important “For us, the start is very important. We’re competing against the northern hemisphere, but there’s also an excitement in the way the competition is structured now, and everyone wants to be in the final,” explained Stick at Friday’s pre-match presser. “There’s a lot to play for against the northern hemisphere teams, and on the other side we’re still competing with New Zealand to finish on top (of the table), so the structure brings a lot of excitement and the guys are engaged.” “Playing Italy away in Turin, where we played last year, the crowd is crazy when it comes to energy. It’s always tough to play them at home, so we must make sure we’re at our best. To give ourselves a chance of playing in the final, we have to start this tour well, so we’ll give it everything and try to make our people back home proud.” With the Boks locked level on points with the All Blacks on the log, and only separated by points difference, bonus points and the margin of victory will be vitally important in keeping them ahead of their greatest rivals, but captain Siya Kolisi said that the team are first and foremost focused on the win. Get the win “First of all, it’s ‘get the win’. If we get a (good) lead in the game and we can go for a bonus point, then we will. You can’t be thinking about bonus points before even getting a win. You take the game as it comes,” explained Kolisi. “You’ve got to respect each team, because we’re playing in Italy at their home and we know how tough it was last year for us to play against them. “There’s nothing we can do to control what New Zealand do in their games, but all we have control of is what we do as a team. If we get the win early in the game, then it’s a great thing about (going for a) bonus point.” Despite Italy being currently ranked 11th in the world and missing a host of players through injury, they have still named a team featuring a number of game breakers, including world class outside back Ange Capuozzo. “We all know that injuries are part of the game, but it’s still a very, very good side (that they have named). Even with their (player) losses, they’ve still got world-class players in the backline. It’s going to be a tough game and we can’t afford to give them time and space,” said Stick. “We know he’s (Capuozzo) world class, probably one of the best outside backs in the world. If you give him space and time, he’ll punish you. We’ve played against him many times and we understand his trends.”