Springboks aiming to blunt All Blacks attack at FNB Stadium – Kurt-Lee Arendse

The All Blacks have managed to beat the Springboks on the edges during the series, scoring a number of quality tries. Springbok wing Kurt-Lee Arendse says the team have been working extremely hard to blunt the All Blacks’ incredible attacking prowess, when the teams battle it out in the third Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry Test at the FNB Stadium in Soweto on Saturday. The All Blacks have crossed the whitewash more than the Boks in both Tests so far, five tries to one in their 33-16 win at Ellis Park in the opening Test, and four tries to three in the second Test in Cape Town with the Boks emerging victorious 33-26 thanks largely to Cheslin Kolbe’s boot. Arendse said that they were well aware of the dangers that the All Blacks backline pose, and that they had put some plans in place to hopefully negate them in Saturday’s match. Good attacking side “We know the All Blacks are a good attacking side, and we have put things into place to counter that. I think in the first Test we focused more on them than on us,” explained Arendse. “So this time I think we are focusing more on ourselves, where we need to improve and I think we will manage that. We have worked really hard to not give them any points. “We work every week on how to get better on defence. Today we fixed up a few things that we lacked over the weekend, so I think we have been doing what we can to prevent teams from scoring tries.” Arendse is back in the match 23 after playing the first Test, and then being named in the second Test, only to be withdrawn in the week for the fit-again Kolbe. With Damian Willemse ruled out of this weekend’s match with a hamstring injury, Kolbe has moved to fullback, with Arendse filling his spot on the right wing, while Ethan Hooker retains his place on the left wing. Arendse claimed that he wasn’t disappointed about losing his place in the team last week, especially after the team came out on top, and even though he has played the vast majority of his rugby with Kolbe on the wing, said having him at fullback wouldn’t be different. Not disappointed “To be honest I wasn’t disappointed. Obviously I wasn’t in the team, but I wasn’t disappointed at all because we won. It was a good outcome,” said Arendse. “It’s pretty much the same. I have played with Cheslin at fullback before and I think it’s the same, just a different number on the jersey. I think we communicate really well in training and we will take that onto the field this weekend.” Looking at playing in front of a crowd close to 90,000 people at the FNB Stadium, Arendse said the team was looking forward to the experience. “I think the atmosphere is going to be amazing over the weekend. The last time I was at the FNB Stadium was in 2023 for the Soweto derby and the supporters came out in their numbers. So I think it is going to be the same on Saturday and we are looking forward to that,” said Arendse. He also decided to wade into the furious scrum debate that has been waged between the Springboks and All Blacks over the past couple of weeks saying: “So I spoke to coach Daan (Human, Bok scrum coach) after training and asked what I should say if we are asked about the scrums and he told me to say, ‘just tell them we sorted it out’,” said Arendse with a laugh.