{"id":112831,"date":"2025-09-02T09:24:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T09:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112831\/"},"modified":"2025-09-02T09:24:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T09:24:11","slug":"all-blacks-vs-springboks-at-eden-park-a-game-you-dream-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/112831\/","title":{"rendered":"All Blacks vs Springboks at Eden Park a game you ‘dream of’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Having burst onto the international scene against the Springboks a year ago, Wallace Sititi<\/a> knows what playing the reigning world champs demands, and is preparing accordingly.<\/p>\n

The explosive flanker earned the first start of his Test career in Cape Town last year, and proceeded to take the world by storm, going on to win World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year.<\/p>\n

Now in his sophomore season with the team, the 22-year-old is clearly taking in the wisdom of his veteran teammates. Ahead of what is as highly anticipated a Test as they come outside a Rugby World Cup, Sititi wasn\u2019t getting ahead of himself, knowing he has to pace himself this week so he has everything left to give on Saturday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Springboks are a quality side, the defending champions for a reason. They\u2019ve been on top of their game for a long time now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge opportunity for us, something that we walk towards, but then again, we\u2019ve still got a few more days, so we\u2019ll build into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fixture<\/p>\n

Rugby Championship<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

New Zealand <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

South Africa <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

While the Chiefs<\/a> star has only managed a touch over 400 minutes on the park in 2025 due to injury, he is in contention for another start come the weekend and was not one of the 16 All Blacks<\/a> released to play in the NPC over the weekend.<\/p>\n

Perhaps Sititi\u2019s biggest selection threat comes from fellow Chiefs hardman Simon Parker<\/a>, who impressed with some hard-hitting defence in his All Blacks debut in Argentina<\/a> two weeks ago. Sititi is the more well-established of the two, and both players cover both No. 8 and the blindside flank.<\/p>\n

With his 2024 experience, Sititi has followed in his father\u2019s footsteps in facing the Springboks, making the matchup extra meaningful.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s special. Hopefully, I get that chance this weekend. Growing up, you watch the All Blacks and Springboks play, and I watched Manu Samoa<\/a> as well with my father playing the Springboks as well. To go up against a quality side like the Springboks, it\u2019s always a pleasure, and it\u2019s a great challenge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big match, no doubt about it. As players, we talk about these big moments; it\u2019s what we work for and what we dream of.\u201d<\/p>\n

When asked what learnings he took away from last year\u2019s Cape Town Test, Sititi noted all the hallmarks of Springboks rugby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re big boys, love their confrontation, love the set piece. They\u2019re a quality side for a reason, and if we\u2019re not on our game, we\u2019re not going to put in a good fight.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I learned was you\u2019ve got to make sure you win all the moments; little mistakes will cost you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sititi was born eight years after the All Blacks last lost at Eden Park, and admits he knows nothing about the game that preceded the current unbeaten run. But that doesn\u2019t undermine the significance of the 31-year unbeaten record.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor myself, it\u2019s very important. Eden Park has been our home for the All Blacks and New Zealand<\/a> Rugby; it\u2019s something that we take seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Having burst onto the international scene against the Springboks a year ago, Wallace Sititi knows what playing the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-112831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}