South Africa, as well as the British and Irish Lions employ the famed 'rush' defence. It ill make for an intriguing afternoon's rugby when they go head-to-head in the opening match of the three-Test series in Durban on Saturday.

Springbok assistant coach Gary Gold acknowledged that the Lions' defensive style is a key aspect of their game - one which has caused endless problems for the opposition in their six-match unbeaten run in the lead-up to Saturday's international.

Just like South Africa, since they first introduced the rush defence back in 2004, the Lions have at times come under fire - with pundits feeling that they are pushing at the offside line.

However, Gold feels that come Saturday it will be two teams trying to execute the same style.

"I don't want to give our game plan away, but we have faced it [rush defence] before," Gold said, when asked how the Boks would counter the Lions' approach.

"We faced it in Bloemfontein and Pretoria [again Wales] last year and obviously at the Millennium Stadium again.

"It is the same defensive coach [Shaun Edwards] and on the evidence of what we've seen [on this tour] we will face the same rush defence," Gold said, adding: "They will come off the line quickly and put us under a lot of pressure.

"It is a defensive system the Boks have employed since 2004 successfully."

Gold felt that being past masters of the rush defence, the Boks will know exactly how to counter it.

"One of the benefits of employing that system is that you realise what downsides are to that and on the day one of the duels is going to be to see who is going to exploit who's defence more efficiently," he added.

365

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