Argentine scrum half Gonzalo Bertranou has urged Dragons to embrace the challenge of the upcoming tour to South Africa.
Dragons fly to South Africa tomorrow (Tuesday) to play Vodacom Bulls on Saturday (March 26) in Pretoria before tackling the Cell C Sharks in Durban on April 1.
Bertranou knows all about the size of task facing Dean Ryan’s men as frequent traveller to that part of the world.
The 28-year-old has come up against the four South African sides now playing in the United Rugby Championship during his spell with Jaguares in Super Rugby.
He has also faced the Springboks on home soil during international clashes for Argentina.
“Travelling to South Africa is always tough,” he said. “The teams over there are hard to beat.
“We will have a lot of sunny, hot days and the humidity to deal with, but in Pretoria and Durban it can also rain, so we need to be prepared for that.
“It’s hard to play in South Africa because they are physical, tough teams, but it’s important we embrace the challenge of playing over there. We can’t shy away from what is coming.
“Our set piece must be strong because they are tough teams,” he added.
“We all know how South African teams traditionally play, but they also want to play fast and have the ball in their hands.
“Both teams we face have dangerous backs, we’ve seen that in all the recent games.
“We have to be accurate, physical, try to play fast and be the best version of ourselves if we want to get good performances.”
Dragons jet to South Africa on the back of a heavy defeat last time out against Munster and Bertranou insists the last two weeks without a game have been used wisely.
“We’ve been training hard and trying to fix the problems we have,” he said. “We try to make every single training session better, try and find the best version of us.
“We must look forward to traveling to South Africa so building up to that departure day we need to keep improving on the things we need to get better at.
“I’m excited to get out there, play and start gaining some momentum, some rhythm,” he added.
“All the players want the same as me after the last game, they want to play, they want to make the team better and win some games.
“It’s a good challenge for us and I think it will be really good for the squad to travel together for the next two weeks.”
I’m excited to get out there, play and start gaining some momentum, some rhythm... it will be really good for the squad to travel together for the next two weeks...
