Boks Bury Durban Ghost Before All Blacks Clash

Twelve months after South Africa suffered their worst defeat on home soil, confidence has been restored with coach Allister Coetzee keen to write a new chapter against the All Blacks on Saturday

AUCKLAND, Sept 14, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 14th Sep, 2017 ) - Twelve months after South Africa suffered their worst defeat on home soil, confidence has been restored with coach Allister Coetzee keen to write a new chapter against the All Blacks on Saturday.

"The big thing is to make sure you put yourself in a position to get (the result) and we've really worked hard for this one," he said Thursday ahead of the fourth-round Rugby Championship clash in Auckland.

Coetzee took over the Springboks after they narrowly lost to the All Blacks in the 2015 World Cup semi-finals and in his first year at the helm they lost eight of 12 Tests, including a 57-15 rout by New Zealand in Durban.

A year on from that record defeat, only Eben Etzebeth and Tendai Mtawarira remain in the starting line, and Coetzee's Springboks are on a six-match unbeaten run with five wins and a draw in 2017.

"We've really buried 2016 as deep as possible and we've moved on," Coetzee said. "There's not even a handful of those guys from last year. It's a completely different team environment, different individuals and the game, in terms of why they are Springboks and what they represent, the mindset is completely different."