An enormous collective effort will be required from the Springboks if they are to succeed in burying the All Blacks in the fourth and final Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series in Baltimore on Saturday, loose forward Cameron Hanekom says.
The powerful loose forward, who will play off the bench at the M&T Bank Stadium, says everyone must buy into the Boks’ game plan for the deciding game of the series (kickoff 11pm SA time).
After opening a crucial 2-1 lead in the four-Test series in the Soweto last week, the Boks will face an All Black side desperate to snatch a share of the spoils.
“It’s going to need a collective effort for the Boks to win the final Test in Baltimore,” Hanekom said.
“From everybody that’s travelling, whether it is management, coaches, or players.
“We all have to buy in to get together, and that’s what we’ve been doing, and it’s been working for us.
“So I mean, if we get the collective buy-in, the hard work will pay off at the end of the day.”
Hanekom said it had been a surreal experience playing in front of almost 90,000 fans at the FNB Stadium.
“It was an intense game and the atmosphere was crazy,” he said.
“Just looking up in the crowd when we were singing the anthem, seeing all the South African supporters here. Yeah, it was surreal.
“And it was a proper battle out there.
“Looking back at the last game, I made two silly errors. I knew that if I come onto the field I can’t afford that again, especially in the crunch time in the last 20 minutes.
“So yeah, I was just trying to balance out not being too overeager to make a hit or so.”
Hanekom says he has to be at the top of the game because there is fierce competition for a berth in the Bok side.
“It’s always going to be a challenge,” he said.
“I mean, we’ve got a lot of proper players coming through the ranks, and we’ve got a good, healthy competition at the moment.
“I must say, I don’t think my place is secured at all in the team.
“It’s always going to be a hard battle, day in and day out. If you’re picked, if you’re not picked, you stand up, and you do it for the team.”
“It was very special to play in such of such a big crowd in Soweto and this was also our last game for the year in South Africa.
“So we knew we had to make a statement.
“We knew it was never going to be easy and I am glad that we could get the win.
“That we could make the South Africans proud and give them one last win before we go overseas. It was special.
“We pride ourselves on our scrum work, rolling mauls and lineouts
“There are many other things that we can still work on, but we ticked the boxes in most areas.
“From a personal point of view, I knew that I, like all our replacements, had an important job to do.
“That is to bring energy and help the guys who have already been on the field for 60 minutes.
“When I got the opportunity, I knew I just had to give it everything.”
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