Davids said they were prepared for another hard grind against the visitors, while admitting that there were a number of areas the Springboks would work on as they look to build momentum and improve their performances going forward in the international season.
The Bok assistant coach reported a clean bill of health in the team as head coach Jacques Nienaber prepares to announce his match 23 on Tuesday, but he didn’t give anything away in terms of team selection, saying it was important to get the balance right between getting the desired results and giving the new players a chance to show what they can do at international level.
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“Luckily everyone has recovered and are fit at this stage, and we are ready to go,” said Davids.
“We expected a tough battle against Wales, and as we said the whole of last week, we certainly never underestimated them. They lifted to the challenge, and they forced us into a slow start. They also managed to stop our momentum in the first half.”
Davids added: “Test rugby is about playing in the right areas of the field and having a good kicking game is part of that to get out of your own half.
“Our kicking game is certainly not what we wanted, and we will work on that. We know there are areas we can improve on technically and tactically, so we have to be consistent and keep improving.”
With 42 players having travelled to Bloemfontein – flyhalf Johan Goosen remained in Pretoria having spent the last three weeks with the team to do his rehabilitation from a knee injury while at the same time using the opportunity wisely to be exposed to the national structures and coaches – Davids said: “We were open from the outset in saying that we have a big group of players that we are working with and we have to remember that we are working with a long-term view on the Rugby World Cup next year as well.
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“It is our objective to try to give everyone game time, but it is very important to get the balance right so that we can build depth and win Test matches.”