Fleck looks forward to rough stuff
December 1, 2000

Fiery Springbok centre Robbie Fleck has warned England to expect a rough time from the whole Springbok team when the two sides clash at Twickenham on Saturday.

"England have a lot of attitude and aggression," he told the Daily Mail, "which is why they beat us in Bloemfontein. We sat back and they gave us a lesson. We won't be holding back this time. We've got to get stuck in from the start. England, of course, will want to do the same. It will be very physical."

Fleck was criticised personally for his overzealous performance against Wales last weekend, when a series of dangerous tackles led BBC commentator Jonathan Davies to remark: "Someone should give him a slap."

Fleck insisted that his approach was fair game. "We had to go in with attitude and get that old Springbok spirit back. Maybe we went a bit over the top now and again, but against people like Gibbs you have to climb in, otherwise you come off second-best. We need to regain that bit of arrogance which all the top teams possess."

"England are probably the toughest side to play and they've just beaten Australia," said Fleck. "Their defence is outstanding, probably the best.

"They're definitely in the top two in the world, whereas our team are slowly coming together after a tough year. We're the underdogs, but we're good enough to give them a tough game and run it very close."

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