White not in awe of Blacks

Jake White talked about the Boks’ record against the All Blacks and regaining the respect of the New Zealand rugby public and players.

“On balance I know we’ve gone into every Test against them with a side good enough to win. And when you think they’ve won 31 out of 32 against everyone else, our record against them shows the strength of the Bok group.”

“Some before me may have been in awe of them, but I’ve never felt awe when thinking of the All Blacks. I’ve always viewed them as the ultimate challenge and someone you wanted to play against. I grew up in an era when the Boks were the only team in the world to have a winning percentage against the All Blacks, so there was no reason to be overawed.”

“I was in the schools system for more than a decade as a coach and progressed to under- 21s. We beat New Zealand’s equivalent there, so why couldn’t we do it as seniors? It had to do with belief in our own players. Sure there are New Zealand players I’d love to have in my team, but I could think of plenty Boks the All Blacks selectors would love to have wearing black”

“Our players had to know how good they were – and they could only know that when they beat the All Blacks.”

Jake talked about his first Test match in charge against New Zealand in Christchurch as a major turning point in the attitude of the Boks.

“I knew we could beat the All Blacks and told the players all week it was possible. But as much as they wanted to believe me I don’t think they did.

“We lost the Test in the last movement of the game and in the changeroom afterwards they really acknowledged to themselves for the first time that the All Blacks were as mortal as the next team. That night was very significant for the psyche of this generation of Bok player.”

The seven successive defeats to the All Blacks between 2000 and 2004 really got to White as a rugby fan.

“I heard all the stories how a particular generation of New Zealand player laughed off the rivalry of the Springboks. Australia was the big contest because that was a team against which those New Zealand players had experienced the heartbreak of defeat.

“In 2004 we made it a priority as a squad to win back that respect from the All Blacks. We had to show the next generation of All Black that the rivalry against the Boks was real and that many great All Blacks had failed in South Africa for a good reason.

“I know in the last four years we’ve got back the respect of the New Zealand rugby public and those All Blacks who play us every year. And most significantly, so do the players. That’s why Saturday will be such a great occasion.”