Morné van den Berg is relishing another challenge against the All Blacks and will hope to extend his unbeaten run in Test rugby when the Springboks face New Zealand in a pivotal third Test in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The scrumhalf experienced the intensity of facing their arch-rivals for the first time last weekend in Cape Town, coming off the bench to help the world champions secure a hard-fought 33-26 victory at DHL Stadium.
Now, with the Boks looking to take a 2-1 lead in Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry, all eyes will be on the final match on South African soil at FNB Stadium (5.10pm kick-off) in Soweto, where Van den Berg will play his first Test in Johannesburg.
The Lions scrumhalf came on at a crucial time in Cape Town, helping to stabilise the Boks defensively, while his kicking boot got them out of trouble on numerous occasions.
While he had few attacking opportunities after the world champions laid the platform in the first half with three tries, the nippy scrumhalf is ready to do whatever is required of him to help the Boks secure another victory.
He highlighted how they wanted to protect their breakdown after what happened at Ellis Park in the opening Test, and they managed to clean up their ball to secure attacking opportunities in the Mother City.
“Yeah, obviously it was a massive work-on for us after the first Test,” Van den Berg said about the rucks and ensuring the All Blacks do not disrupt their possession.
“Unfortunately, my 25 minutes were mostly defensive ones. So I think I had like three (attacking) rucks, and by then, I think we did a very good job to force turnovers on them. However, it was a really cool experience playing against them (for the first time). They are obviously one of the best sides in the world, so to experience that intensity (at Test level) was really good.”
In his first eight caps, Van den Berg hasn’t lost a match yet, and the Boks will hope he can be their magic charm again on Saturday as they look to go two games unbeaten and take an unassailable lead in the four-match series.
The 26-year-old will also get the opportunity to play his first Test in Johannesburg at the iconic FNB Stadium, having last played at the venue for his franchise in front of about 40 000 spectators.
With the Boks just one victory away from taking an unassailable 2-1 series lead before the final clash in the USA, Van den Berg knows the importance of Saturday’s encounter, but insists the team is not looking beyond the immediate challenge.
“It does feel like a (series) decider; you can definitely say that. But we haven’t looked past this weekend yet. It’s a really important Test, and we’re going to give everything this weekend, and then we’ll see.”
