The Boks' road to the World Cup
Brad Morgan
25 May 2007
It's a Rugby World Cup year, with France hosting the event in September, and according to the latest rankings the Springboks are the fifth best team in the game. However, many South Africans believe the Boks are stronger contenders than that, after a strong showing by the country in the Super 14.
For the first time ever, the southern hemisphere's flagship competition outside of test rugby produced an all-South African final, and the first ever South African winner, when the Bulls edged the Sharks 20-19 in Durban.
Maybe as important as the good results turned in by the South African sides was the fact that they emerged relatively unscathed on the injury front. It is a factor that is hugely important when it comes to clashes of the top teams in the game; to take on the best the best are needed.
England challenge
Unlike in some seasons past, the Springboks won't open their international programme with one or two
lightweight encounters before taking on the big guns of world rugby. This time the Boks start down the road to the Rugby World Cup against England, in Bloemfontein on 26 May.
The defending champions are not at full strength for their two-test tour – the second one takes place in Pretoria on 2 June – but make no mistake, facing up to the below-full-strength English will be a much tougher task than, for instance, facing Uruguay whom SA thrashed 134-3 at the start of the 2005 season.
England are, admittedly, missing many of their first choice players, but that also means that, for those players selected for the tour of South Africa, they have an excellent opportunity to impress and earn themselves a place in the English team to the World Cup.
After a seven-game losing streak to the English was halted at Twickenham last year, the Boks will quickly want to re-establish their dominance in the two tests on home soil.
England head into the games ranked two places below
South Africa, in seventh position.
Samoa
The week following the Loftus Versfeld test, the action moves to Ellis Park in Johannesburg, where the Springboks will host Samoa.
Ranked tenth in the world, the Samoans will not be expected to win, but one thing that is a certainty when playing the Pacific islanders is that they will present a very physical challenge.
The term, a "Maori sidestep" is one that could very easily be applied to the Samoans. In essence, a Maori sidestep is the act of running straight over an opponent. That is the way the Samoans approach their rugby; it's confrontational, hard, and the tackles are bone-jarring.
There is no respite after three weekends of test rugby because Newlands hosts the first of the Tri-Nations clashes the following week, on 16 June.
Tri-Nations home
The opposition will be Australia and, after a very disappointing Super 14 season for Australian teams,
it is hard to know what to expect from the Wallabies.
However, there are a few things that cannot be disputed about the Aussie challenge. Firstly, they are ranked third in the IRB standings, two places above the Springboks. And secondly, Australia is a proud sporting nation and the poor form exhibited in the Super 14 is unlikely to be as evident in the Tri-Nations.
While Springbok players would quickly dismiss such talk, the record 49-nil thrashing suffered against the Wallabies in June last year will surely rankle still, and a good way to get that bitter aftertaste out of the system would be to inflict the same sort of agony on the Aussies.
On 23 June, the Boks will be in action against New Zealand in Durban. Before the Super 14 took place, the All Blacks, it seemed, were everyone's runaway favourites to win the World Cup. Now, after South Africa's success in the Super 14, plenty of questions have been raised about the Kiwis' chances of winning the tournament for
the first time since 1987.
In preparation for the World Cup, All Black coach Graham Henry kept a select squad of 22 players out of the Super 14 until the halfway mark. They were put on a conditioning programme with the aim being to have the players in the best possible condition for the September event.
The conditioning work didn't seem to have helped much when the players returned to the Super 14, and it will be interesting to see whether they look any better off in the Tri-Nations.
Tri-Nations away
After a week's break, the Springboks head Down Under for a clash with the Wallabies in Sydney. One of the most encouraging aspects of South Africa's performances in the Super 14 this year was the teams' improved results away from home and it will be important for Jake White's charges to continue building on the momentum and belief built up during the competition.
From Sydney, the Boks head to Christchurch, the stronghold of the
Crusaders, for a second showdown against the All Blacks on 14 July.
When South Africa next takes to the field, it will also be away from home. They face Scotland at Murrayfield on 25 August.
Shockingly, the Scots have fallen out of the top 10 in the world rankings, down to number 11, after finishing with the wooden spoon in the 2006 Six Nations competition. They were good enough, however, to slip to a narrow 19-18 defeat to Ireland, a team ranked above South Africa by the IRB.
The World Cup
After the Edinburgh game, it's onto the World Cup.
The Springboks open their challenge in Paris on 9 September with another clash against Samoa in Pool A.
Following that game, on 14 September in Saint Denis, the Boks do battle with the defending champions, England.
When the fixtures were released in 2005, the match appeared as a potential - some would have said likely - stumbling block to South Africa's World Cup aspirations. Now,
however, although England remains a tough opponent, it appears to be more beatable than it was.
The first two matches should decide where the Springboks finish in their pool because the contests to follow should produce predictable South African victories.
On 22 September in Lens, the Springboks face Tonga. Like the Samoans, the Tongans play a no-prisoners-taken kind of game, but they're a step or two behind their island counterparts and ranked sixteenth in the world.
On 30 September, the Boks wrap up their Pool A action in Montpellier when they tackle the USA. The Americans are ranked higher than Tonga, in thirteenth place, but the chances of them beating South Africa are extremely slim.
Once beyond the top 10 in the rankings, the standard of the teams dips quite some way.
Beyond pool play
If South Africa ends top of Pool A, the route to the final looks reasonable.
The opponent in the quarterfinal would likely be
one of Wales – second last in the Six Nations with only one win – or Australia, who head into their international season with more questions than answers.
Win that one and the Boks would have to beat one of Ireland, France, or Argentina to reach the final. That's tough, but it isn't the kind of challenge that one looks at and wishes for something easier. It's the kind of game that is eminently winnable.
After that, could a repeat of the 1995 final – South Africa versus New Zealand – be on the cards?
| 
