Boks turn to ‘heavy metal’ to prepare for deafening din

Such is the deafening din the Springboks are expecting at the Stade de France near Paris on Sunday, they have recreated it at their training sessions in preparation for the Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against France.

The world champions clash with, it seems, not just the team in blue, but all of the host nation, and the Boks will be used to their ears ringing by the time they reach the northern outskirts of Paris on Sunday.

“It is going to be huge. We tried to simulate it in training,” Bok hooker and occasional captain Bongi Mbonambi said about the noise factor on Thursday.

“We’ve had noise at training. We experience it in the week so when it comes to the match there is nothing new that shocks you. We know it is going to be sold out and there will be a lot of singing. We are going to embrace it and try to focus on our game plan.”

The Boks got a taste of what they might expect on Sunday in November  2022 when they clashed with France in Marseille. The Stade Vélodrome with its curvy roof makes for an interesting acoustic experience and the Boks experienced it full blast through the speakers, but more importantly, from the stands on their last end-of-year tour.

On that occasion they fell just short, but it was a match for the ages as the Springboks and Tricolores tore into each other. There were also a couple of red cards that influenced the proceedings.

Mbonambi had the “you ain’t seen nothing yet” look when asked if Sunday’s game would produce a clash of higher intensity.

“The intensity is going to be way bigger than in Marseille, which was an end-of-year Test. In a quarterfinal there is a lot on the line. There will be a different atmosphere and intensity.”

On that score, France scrum coach William Servat potentially upped the temperature of the debate a few notches by using the word “violent” in describing the Boks’ intensity earlier in the week.

“First time I’ve heard that,” bristled Mbonambi when told of it. “As South Africans, we pride ourselves on being physical and confrontational. We know the French pack also likes being confrontational.

“We are going to embrace that and we are going to express ourselves as South Africans, within the spirit of a rugby game. 

“It is a collision sport. We love the collisions. I don’t think they are going to back off, no matter what manner they want to put it.”

Though the Boks have had the experience of playing the host nation in the quarterfinals of a World Cup, according to Mbonambi their experience in the Stade de France will be a lot different to the one they faced at the International Stadium Yokohama four years ago.

Scrumhalf Cobus Reinach, who as a squad member this year has been as instrumental as he was four years ago, believes the Boks cannot board the emotional rollercoaster the French might want to drag them on.

“We try to keep emotions out of it. Emotions take you off task. We have a job to do. We will put on a performance out there on Sunday that we can be proud of and 60-million people can be proud of. That is all we are focusing on.” 

Reinach pointed out that there is no difference between a quarterfinal and semifinal defeat at the World Cup. “That is not even in our vocabulary. Playing a third and fourth place play-off is not why we are at the World Cup.”