Newsable: All Blacks v South Africa will be a battle, Jeff Wilson says
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The All Blacks will face South Africa in the Rugby World Cup final on Sunday.
Jeff Wilson says the Rugby World Cup final between the All Blacks and South Africa is “gonna be a war”.
The Sky commentator and former All Black told Newsable the New Zealanders were looking cool and calm ahead of Sunday morning’s clash, but the Springboks would be formidable.
“It’s gonna be a war, there’s no doubt about that,” Wilson said.
“The All Blacks play to their strengths – they try to play on top of the ground with high tempo. The Springboks play a more confrontational type of game.”
The Springboks “are gonna be good, they’re gonna be well-prepared,” he said. “Rassie Erasmus will have them fired up and ready to go.”
Still, after edging Ireland in the quarter-final and blitzing Argentina in the semis, the All Blacks looked comfortable.
“They know what they’ve been through. They know how to prepare,” Wilson said.
“They look like a really settled and happy side. They’ve come through pretty much unscathed in the last couple of games.”
The World Cup final will be the last test for a large group of great All Blacks, including Sam Whitelock, Brodie Retallick, Aaron Smith, Richie Mo’unga, Dane Coles and maybe Beauden Barrett.
It would be “an emotional time” for those players, Wilson said, but “they’ll just want to finish the job and create their own slice of history”.
Listen to the full interview here.
You can watch the RWC final live on Stuff from 8am on Sunday (with te reo commentary available).
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