He put in a man-of-the-match performance in that first Test, and although England came back at us hard in the final stages, the guys hung on for a heartening 42-39 victory.
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Eben Etzebeth - Unlocked
2: Reluctant Enforcer
“Something else I learnt during that tournament was that some teams are very different beasts in their own backyard than they are away from home. We beat Argentina fairly comfortably at Newlands, but the following week in Mendoza was the most physical game I'd played up to that point. The atmosphere was hostile, more like football than rugby, which made the Argentine players that much more up for it. And the more their players got on top of us, the louder the crowd became. It was like playing in the eye of the storm – 80 minutes of deafening noise and getting clattered from all sides – and we were fortunate to be down only 13-3 at half-time. We escaped with a draw only because of a late charge-down try and conversion from Frans Steyn.
In 2013, we put 70 points past Argentina in Johannesburg, only for the Pumas to almost beat us the following week, again in Mendoza (two late penalties from Morné Steyn gave us a narrow victory). How can a team transform from boys to men in the space of seven days? I can only put it down to the home crowd making their players believe, although all that passion can also make them do the craziest things.
Maybe you only really understood how good Duane was when you were in the same team as him, because I thought he was the best eighthman in the world and certainly the best I’d played with.
He gave teammates tremendous confidence because he knew exactly what his role was and fulfilled it to the letter, game in, game out.
We had the raw materials to achieve that –lots of big, strong forwards – but previously hadn't been fit enough to dominate for long. However, with Aled whipping us into the best shape we’d ever been in, that changed in 2018. Aled’s fitness sessions were brutal, as were Matt’s scrumming sessions, and by the time of the 2019 Rugby Championship we were confident in our ability as a pack.
We probably should have been further ahead at half-time but Rassie was calm in the changing room. The only thing I remember him saying was that any signs of tiredness would give England hope, so we should get back on our feet as soon as possible after going to ground.
10: Love and Fresh Perspectives
“Rassie and Jacques genuinely thought those guys were good enough to beat Wales, and the fact that we ended up losing that second Test when we should have put it to bed by halftime was neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things.