Altitude matters — Canan Moodie warns Scotland to prepare for the Loftus suffocation

Springbok wing Canan Moodie says that the sign in the Loftus Versfeld tunnel warning the visiting team about the altitude of Pretoria is there for a reason.

The sign reads: “Altitude. 1 350m. It matters,” and Moodie says that when Scotland take the field for Saturday’s Nations Championship match, the Boks want to make that home-ground advantage count.

The Boks have been encamped at altitude for the last six weeks, while the Scots arrived on Tuesday from the sea-level Argentine capital of Buenos Aires.

“The altitude is real, but it is also about how you play; you want to make sure the visitors feel the altitude from the pressure you exert from your game plan,” said Moodie, who has been a Bulls player for the past four years.

“You want to be really confrontational and put them under pressure in whatever you do, so that they feel that the altitude does matter. They must feel at the end of the game that they have played against a South African side.

“Loftus is a fortress we want to protect — it has been like that for the Bulls, but also for the Springboks, where we have had some good Springbok history,” Moodie added.

Moodie and his teammates know most of the Scotland players well because they play against them in the United Rugby Championship.

“A lot of their players are from the Glasgow Warriors and quite a few of our guys are Bulls, so there is recent history in the form of the URC semi-final between the Warriors and the Bulls (won by the Bulls in Edinburgh).”