Newcastle - Scotland might be riding the crest of the wave after their unblemished start to their Rugby World Cup campaign with two convincing wins over Japan and the USA but Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has warned them of the impending danger of his wounded Springboks ahead of their crucial clash in Newcastle on Saturday.
The Scots have managed to have a perfect start to the tournament and picked up vital bonus point wins in their matches and are within touching distance of securing their place in the quarterfinals.
The Springboks, on the other hand, have had a less than ideal start firstly conceding a shameful defeat at the hands of Japan before restoring their dignity with a convincing win over Samoa last weekend.
But the Springboks stumble at Brighton against Japan was a major setback in their pre-tournament plans to top their pool by the time they face the Scots, and with the two time world champions still in desperate need of a win to all but guarantee their safe passage to the quarterfinals, Meyer believes that his team is one opponent that Scotland would rather avoid.
Desperation and the unenviable prospect of going home after the pool stages probably galvanised the Springboks into their ruthless performance against Samoa and Meyer is expecting the very same approach from his players ahead of the encounter against Scotland at St Jame’s Park on Saturday.
“We’ve been fighting since day one and we’ve been under pressure since the Rugby Championship. We’ve been under pressure in every game and they have been must-wins that makes us a dangerous team. It will be difficult on Saturday. But one thing about South Africa is if people write us off that is when we rise to the occasion and that is what I expect of the players,” said Meyer.
Springbok captain Fourie du Preez concurred with Meyer re-iterating that the Springboks were still in the same position they were last week and their place in the quarterfinals still not guaranteed.
While the feeling of desperation might have slightly waned, it has now been replaced by the fear of losing and staring the country’s worst performance in a World Cup tournament after the nightmare of losing to Japan.
Du Preez has called on his team to replicate their performance against Samoa, if they have any hope of keeping their World Cup dream alive.
“We came into this World Cup without a great build-up to it and losing our first game was a big shock to the world. We had our backs against the wall last week and one of the most pressure games I’ve been involved with and all 23 guys stood up. We are in exactly the same position this week and I’m expecting the same of every guy to put in the same performance as we did last week. We are not looking past this game even though we will play against the USA four days after that. If we are not winning this game, it is probably the end of the World Cup,” Du Preez said.