Confident Boks off to RWC
Brad Morgan
4 September 2007
The Springboks departed for France in high spirits on Monday, confident they have what it takes to win the Rugby World Cup. On Saturday, at a send-off at President Thabo Mbeki's guesthouse in Pretoria, captain John Smit said his team were ready to "bear the weight of the nation's expectations."
The President, too, reckoned the Boks have what it takes to win rugby's biggest prize for the second time in their history. "I really don't see why we should not win. I think we can and we should," he said.
It has been a four-year long preparation for the Springboks and captain Smit insists his team is ready to deliver the goods. Reflecting back to the time when Jake White took over as coach, he says White told the players they were going to win the World Cup in 2007.
The belief, says Smit, is there.
Biggest asset
The past four years, he says, have delivered some highs and some lows, and all the time a lot
of learning has been happening. The team, reckons Smit, has grown together and that will be its biggest asset in France.
South Africa's squad is the most experienced one that has yet been sent to the World Cup. Over the past four years, since White took over as coach, he has stuck loyally with the players he believes have what it takes to lift the William Webb Ellis Trophy. His reward has been a battle-hardened, experienced line-up, with depth among the reserves.
In John Smit, the Boks have a highly-respected leader, while there are some players with the ability to change matches, such as Bryan Habana, Fourie du Preez, Percy Montgomery, Schalk Burger, and Victor Matfield. In big matches it is often such players that make the difference.
Injuries
Injuries, or the lack thereof, could play a decisive role in the outcome of the World Cup and the Springboks have fared pretty well on that front with only one player ruled out of the
tournament because of an injury problem.
Losing the dynamic Pierre Spies is a setback; the eightman was withdrawn after concerns were raised about blood clots on his lungs. It has since been decided - after four medical opinions were offered - that he will play no further rugby this season.
He will undergo weekly evaluations for the next three months before his condition is re-evaluated.
Two other players around whom there had been concerns, Jean de Villiers and Akona Ndungane, have been passed fit. Both of them had picked up rib injuries.
It could be that neither player will be considered for the Springboks' opening World Cup match against Samoa on Sunday. Coach White is known to want De Villiers available for the Boks' showdown with defending champions England, so it seems improbable that he would risk playing the inside centre against the head-tackling Samoans.
Playing abroad
One of the concerns about the Springboks is
whether or not they can produce the goods on foreign soil. While their recent record at home is excellent - including a number of wins over the favourites, the All Blacks - they have been far less effective abroad over the four years since the last World Cup.
In fact, playing abroad, Australia and Ireland have both scored record victories over South Africa in that time, and the Boks failed to beat New Zealand in New Zealand.
A much-improved showing by South African sides away from home in this season's Super 14 competition is, however, course for optimism. For the first time in the competition's history a South African team won; the final was, indeed, an all-South African affair between the Bulls and the Sharks.
Winning their pool is regarded as crucial to the Springboks' chances of lifting the World Cup and – on paper at least - it is certainly not the most imposing of tasks.
Pool matches
While South Africa has had its problems
away from home, England's away record has been nothing short of disastrous, with only one win in their last 16 outings. The world champions are far from the formidable team that won the World Cup in 2003, as is evident from their less than imposing world ranking of seventh.
The Springboks should be favoured to win that match, the most crucial game in Pool A, while the rest of their outings should result in reasonably comfortable victories.
Samoa has been struck by a couple of late injuries and that will certainly weaken a side that doesn't have the depth that the Boks boast. Earlier this season, a Springbok team missing its biggest stars defeated the Samoans 35-8 in Johannesburg.
Tonga, while physical, is unlikely to challenge South Africa. The Tongans are ranked four places below their fellow South Sea islanders, Samoa, in the International Rugby Board rankings, in fourteenth place.
The United States, meanwhile, is ranked one place lower, in fifteenth. The
Eagles' results this year have included a 52-10 hammering by Canada at Twickenham, which is hardly the kind of result that will strike fear into the hearts of the Springboks.
Matches are, nonetheless, played on the field and not on paper and it will be up to the South African players to deliver when it matters.
Springbok selection
There is one matter off of the field that will have come as welcome news to the many Springboks set to play their rugby in the northern hemisphere following the World Cup.
On 31 August, SA Rugby released a statement saying: "At a meeting of the Board of SA Rugby (Pty) Ltd a recommendation has been made to the Presidents Council that the decision regarding the non-selection of Springboks playing outside South Africa be held in abeyance until such time as consultation with the relevant parties has taken place."
That means that, for those players, especially the veterans, the World Cup might not be the
last time they play in the green and gold, which is surely something they are happy about.
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