London – Bismarck du Plessis remembers clearly the try that Bryan Habana has never been to be allowed to forget. And we are not talking about one of the 61 he has scored in Test rugby but the magical moment when a “nobody” from the US (actually from Zimbabwe) called Takudza Ngwenya ran around the Bok wing for a spectacular score in a pool match in Montpellier in the 2007 tournament.
Habana shrugged off that humiliation and went on to be the Player of the Tournament, while the Boks proceeded to win that match 64-15 and then went all the way to the title.
And Ngwenya was awarded Try of the Tournament.
“We gave Bryan a good teasing about that, and he took it like a man,” recalled Du Plessis, who played off the bench that day. He is one of a handful of survivors from that match who will feature in tomorrow’s game at the Olympic Stadium in London, along with Schalk Burger, Habana and Fourie du Preez.
There are other Boks at this World Cup who played in that game but are not in the match 23 this week, in Victor Matfield, JP Pietersen and Ruan Pienaar.
“The point is that anything can happen when you play a team that you know very little about,” Du Plessis said, and this is especially the case because the Americans have essentially picked a B team. There are 12 changes to the side that gave Scotland a fright two weeks ago – the Eagles are clearly resting their best players with a view to beating Japan on Sunday, which would give them their first win of the tournament.
Seven of their starting line-up are making their World Cup debuts and with the US having to front up four days later against Japan, they surely are targeting that game.
Du Plessis and the Boks will hear no talk of B teams, but it sadly looks that way, with Ngwenya – still one of their top players – left out of the 23, thus denying Habana an opportunity for revenge.
“What is the point? We don’t really know what is going on in their camp and who their best players are,” Du Plessis said. “The only thing we can control is how we play, and we want a big improvement in our game besides, most importantly, the win because if we lose, we could be on a plane home on Sunday.”
For the unthinkable to happen and the Boks to finish third (and out of the play-offs), they would have to lose to the US, and in the remaining Pool B matches, Scotland must beat Samoa and Japan the US on Sunday.
Unthinkable indeed that the Boks could lose to a second-string Eagles team but coach Heyneke Meyer is leaving nothing to chance and has picked his strongest possible team. There are just two changes to the starting line-up that beat Scotland, both enforced. Tighthead prop Jannie du Plessis (knee) is replaced by Frans Malherbe and wing Pietersen’s knee injury gives opportunity to Lwazi Mvovo, his Sharks teammate.
The bench has a fresher look to it, with Rudy Paige, Morné Steyn and Schalk Brits being rotational changes for Ruan Pienaar, Patrick Lambie and Adriaan Strauss respectively, while Coenie Oosthuizen returns to provide cover at prop.
“We have to keep remembering that anything can and does happen in World Cup games – Ngwenya running around Bryan and, sadly, BJ Botha’s badly injured knee ligaments in that game to end his World Cup.”
And, of course, Japan beating the Boks in 2015…
“I can tell you now that we are playing this game as if we were playing the All Blacks because there is still that chance that we could finish third if we take our eye off the ball and think ahead.
“It has happened to us once and we are not going to let lightning strike twice. The Japan game might seem like ages ago for most people but for us the memory is still fresh.”
Springboks
Wille le Roux, Bryan Habana, Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Lwazi Mvovo, Handré Pollard, Fourie du Preez (capt), Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Burger, Francois Louw, Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherbe, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira. Replacements: Schalk Brits, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Willem Alberts, Rudy Paige, Morné Steyn, Jan Serfontein. - The Star