Springboks have a point to prove against All Blacks, says Faf de Klerk

Whenever the men in green and gold run out against the All Blacks, there is a sense of occasion. While Friday's Rugby World Cup warm-up is a dress rehearsal for the global showpiece next month, make no mistake that the Bok camp means business.

With thousands of South African fans set to be singing from the Twickenham stands in London, there is arguably no better place for Boks to prove that they are ready to defend their World Championship crown.

"It is still a Test match... we are going to prepare for it like any other game," confirmed the scrumhalf on TimesLIVE.

"It doesn't matter who we play. We are going to prepare the same and make sure all our boxes are ticked, like we do every single week.

"We want to make sure we get our stuff right. If they want to do something different that is up to them. We want to focus on ourselves and there are a few things we want to fix and make sure we are ready for the World Cup."

The last time the Boks ran out against New Zealand at Auckland Park, they endured a difficult opening 20 minutes and eventually went down 35-20. This time around, the Springboks plan to replace those memories with better ones.

"I don't think there would be a point to prove in terms of the scoreline, I think there is a point to prove for ourselves," added de Klerk.

"We had a very disappointing first 20 minutes. After that things started coming together. We started playing well and were our physical selves.

"Rectifying mistakes we made against them is the point we want to prove, not to them but to ourselves. To show we can go from the beginning. Making sure we win that game will be our first and main goal but making sure we are in the right frame of mind."

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