Rugby Championship
De Villiers turns focus on an All Blacks win
ESPN Staff
September 29, 2014
The Springboks celebrate their win over the Wallabies © Getty Images
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Not long following the Springboks win over the Wallabies and they secured the No. 2 ranking in Cape Town, captain Jean de Villiers had turned his attention to the Boks next Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park this weekend. Despite the All Blacks already securing the Rugby Championship for a third consecutive year, the final Test of the series could have huge implications for both sides.

Only one year out from the World Cup the Springboks are desperate to secure their first win over the All Blacks since 2011 and De Villiers believes the side will take confidence out of their win over the Wallabies and put pressure on the No. 1 team.

"We will take all the good from this match into next week. We came so close to beating New Zealand in Wellington and I think we can be very competitive next weekend at Ellis Park," De Villiers said. "We did not play badly in Perth and Wellington. We did many good things there. Tonight [Saturday] was an improvement on that and next week we have to step up again. If we continue this, we can beat New Zealand next week."

Happy with their result De Villiers said the late resurgence over the Wallabies was planned as a strategy to tire-out and break down the Wallabies structures and was pleased to take part in the strong win with a bonus-point try.

"It was how we planned it, you never want to leave it too late, but we said if we stuck to our structures in first 60-70 minutes, we could break them down in the last 10," De Villiers said. "From the first kick-off we kept the ball for something like 20 phases and did that throughout the game. We did not get the result [of a try] then, but we knew that come the end of the game it counts for you. Our composure was much better.

"To finish the test match with a very late try that secured the bonus point which concluded a massive team effort, was equally pleasing. This was possibly a top 10 test for me."

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