FILE PHOTO: Rugby Union - Rugby World Cup 2023 - Pool B - South Africa v Ireland - Stade de France, Saint-Denis, France - September 23, 2023 South Africa's Mbongeni Mbonambi after the match REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo
PARIS (Reuters) - South Africa have been blasting noise from speakers at the side of the training pitch this week in order to simulate the hostile atmosphere they expect at the Stade de France in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against the hosts, hooker Bongi Mbonambi revealed on Thursday.
The defending champions expect to face much more than just a strong home side and have been looking to prepare for all potential hurdles, including roof-raising decibel levels from the French crowd.
“We know the atmosphere is going to be massive and we've tried to simulate it in our training this week, so that when it comes to the match it won’t shock us,” he told a press conference.
“We know it’s a sold-out game and we know that the France fans are going to start singing, and everything like that. We’re going to have to embrace it and then try to focus on our game plan.”
Springbok staff told Reuters that speakers had been up on the side of the pitch at some of this week’s training sessions with both crowd noise and the French anthem 'La Marseillaise' blasted out.
Crowds at almost all of this year’s World Cup matches have consistently broken out into renditions of the French anthem, even in matches where the home side were not involved.
“We’ve tried to make sure that when we get to the stadium on Sunday, the noise is something we’ve got used to through the week,” added Mbonambi.
He said the experience of playing in Marseille last November, where the atmosphere was markedly edgy and aggressive, would also stand the Boks in good stead.
South Africa lost 30-26 in a tense game that the coaches described as “total chaos”.
“I think this Sunday is going to be a much tougher contest than in Marseille, which was an end-of-year test match whereas this is the quarter-final of the World Cup. With so much on the line, we’re sitting in a different situation and under a different intensity,” Mbonambi added.
“Obviously, we pride ourselves on being physical and very confrontational. But we know the French pack also like being confrontational. So yeah, we definitely embrace that. It's a collision sport, and we love the collisions.”
(Editing by Toby Davis)
