Details emerge of ‘interesting’ flight together for Springboks & All Blacks to USA
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Come fly with me.
More details have emerged from the unusual shared flight that took the Springboks and All Blacks to the United States ahead of the final Test of Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry.
The two squads travelled together on the same charter flight following South Africa’s victory in Johannesburg, with both teams now preparing for Saturday’s series finale at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
With the Springboks leading the series 2-1, it made for an interesting journey across the Atlantic — particularly for an All Blacks squad coming off back-to-back defeats.
Springbok No.8 Jasper Wiese has now offered an insight into the atmosphere on board, admitting there wasn’t exactly much interaction between the two camps.
“I don’t think it was too friendly on the flight,” Wiese said.
“I’m not going to sugar-coat it – there wasn’t a lot of conversation. Maybe I was sitting at the back of the plane, so I wasn’t talking to many of them.
“But you can imagine how they were feeling on that flight after the loss. It would have been vice versa if we were in their position.”
Rassie Erasmus, however, painted a slightly happier picture and revealed there was at least some interaction between the great rivals during the journey.
“The New Zealanders had their spot, and we had our spot,” Erasmus said.
“I saw Beauden Barrett and Siya [Kolisi] having a cool drink together and taking photos. Codie Taylor was sitting just across from me.”
The shared journey came after South Africa moved into a 2-1 series lead, leaving the All Blacks needing victory in Baltimore to prevent the Springboks from claiming the series.
Wiese is expecting New Zealand to throw everything at the Boks in the finale.
“You know how desperate they’re going to be in this last game,” he said.
“We know how much it means to them as well. It’s not just us who are in the competition; they are too, and I think they’re going to come out guns blazing this weekend.”
