Du Preez wants Springboks to face 'harsh realities'
With tough challenges coming up in the November internationals, former South Africa stalwart Fourie du Preez hopes to see the Springboks back on top at some point in the next two years after falling short again in the Rugby Championship.
Allister Coetzee's team finished third in the tournament behind Australia and winners New Zealand, having suffered a chastening 57-0 loss to the All Blacks at North Harbour Stadium in September.
They now have demanding northern hemisphere tour matches coming up against Ireland, France, Italy and Wales.
And Du Preez, who retired after the World Cup in 2015, knows his successors in the national team must continue to improve if they are to assert themselves against the sport's best sides once again.
"They started off very well," he told Omnisport when asked about South Africa's 2017 Rugby Championship efforts.
"[The] game against New Zealand [in Albany] was very bad. It's been up and down. Hopefully they can take some positives out of earlier games, face some realities, some harsh realities.
"There was definitely some pride restored but there's a lot more work [to do]. It's a process. Hopefully they can go through the process and in a year or two's time we can get back on top."
The retirement of scrum-half Du Preez has left South Africa with a void they are yet to fill on a long-term basis, with the 35-year-old optimistic that one of the country's emerging prospects can prove to be a lasting successor.
"Last year Faf de Klerk played and this year Ross [Cronje] has been really solid," he said of the position.
"We missed him quite a bit in the New Zealand defeat. There's a few youngsters coming up, so hopefully one of them can go the distance."
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I have heard it asked if RA is essentially one of the part owners and I suppose therefor should be on the other side of these two parties. If they purchased the rebels and guaranteed them, and are responsible enough they incur Rebels penalties, where is this line drawn? Seems rough to have to pay a penalty for something were your involvement sees you on the side of the conned party, the creditors. If the Rebels directors themselves have given the club their money, 6mil worth right, why aren’t they also listed as sitting with RA and the Tax office? And the legal threat was either way, new Rebels or defunct, I can’t see how RA assume the threat was less likely enough to warrant comment about it in this article. Surely RA ignore that and only worry about whether they can defend it or not, which they have reported as being comfortable with. So in effect wouldn’t it be more accurate to say there is no further legal threat (or worry) in denying the deal. Unless the directors have reneged on that. > Returns of a Japanese team or even Argentinean side, the Jaguares, were said to be on the cards, as were the ideas of standing up brand new teams in Hawaii or even Los Angeles – crazy ideas that seemingly forgot the time zone issues often cited as a turn-off for viewers when the competition contained teams from South Africa. Those timezones are great for SR and are what will probably be needed to unlock its future (cant see it remaining without _atleast _help from Aus), day games here are night games on the West Coast of america, were potential viewers triple, win win. With one of the best and easiest ways to unlock that being to play games or a host a team there. Less good the further across Aus you get though. Jaguares wouldn’t be the same Jaguares, but I still would think it’s better having them than keeping the Rebels. The other options aren’t really realistic 25’ options, no. From reading this authors last article I think if the new board can get the investment they seem to be confident in, you keeping them simply for the amount of money they’ll be investing in the game. Then ditch them later if they’re not good enough without such a high budget. Use them to get Jaguares reintergration stronger, with more key players on board, and have success drive success.
Go to commentsYeah, and ours is waaay bigger than yours. Just as you's get a semi…oh hold on that never happens
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