Birmingham – Japan coach Eddie Jones says it will be a “bash-up festival” the likes of which the World Cup has not seen before, and he wishes he had a “ring-side seat”.
Jones is probably right on the money in how the Springboks-Samoa match is going to shape up at Villa Park tomorrow given that a Bok side has seldom been as vilified as this one has after losing to Japan. And Samoa, like Japan, have admitted that the Bok match is the one they have been targeting for months.
Certainly the Aston Villa soccer ground will not have seen the like of it before. Jones has nailed his colours to the South African mast and says: “Hopefully we will see the old Springbok fire and this turns into a bout of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship of mixed martial arts).”
Hopefully not. Jones has his agenda in that he would obviously like to see Samoa softened up before their match against Japan, but the Springboks really have to show their class and not be dragged into a street fight, and let’s hope that Samoa, too, have moved on from how they approached the Boks in an infamous game at Loftus Versfeld in 2013 and in the brutal 2011 World Cup game in Auckland.
One player coach Heyneke Meyer is expecting to be invaluable no matter how the game pans out is No8 Duane Vermeulen, who ends three months on the sidelines because of a neck injury with a plunge straight into the heart of the white-hot furnace.
There is no easing his way back into rugby for the 2014 SA Player of the Year and one of three nominees for World Player of the Year.
Meyer was moved to say the following, having an unwitting dig at some of his players: “If everyone had the mental attitude and the desire to play for South Africa that Duane has, we probably wouldn’t lose any games ...
“Our plan was actually to let him play 20 minutes and then start him into the next game but he insisted that he wanted to play,” Meyer said. “Duane told us: ‘I don’t care what the medical staff say, I want to play the full 80 minutes and do everything I can to help my country win this game and get back on track in the World Cup’.”
Meyer said that the whole team needed “this mentality” to go forward in the tournament. “It’s great to have him back.”
Vermeulen said it had been “terrible” to see the Boks go down in those horrific defeats.
“But you are in the stands and you don’t feel completely part of the team and every fibre in your body wants to be with the guys on the field, making whatever contribution you can.”
Starting is a big call for a player who has had neck surgery to take his first full contact in such a massive match, but Vermeulen is utterly certain he is ready to step once more into the breech.
“I am not scared!” he smiled defiantly. “I have never played against Samoa but by all accounts there is no more physical team in the world. It is the game I like to play. I like the physical stuff. For me to play against a fired-up Samon team that will be chucking their bodies on the line is the perfect way to make a comeback to rugby.”
Vermeulen says the Boks know that another slip-up could mean the end of their World Cup and irreversible damage to a Springbok reputation that is already taking immense strain.
“This is possibly our most important game ever, in terms of our proud history, never mind a loss meaning we could be out. I want to part of making sure it does not happen. We have to give it our all and I am ready to lead the way up front, if that is what is required.”
But Vermeulen said that fire and brimstone was good and well, but it had to be allied to cool heads in the heat of battle.
“The older guys in the team, including myself, have to make sure the correct decisions are made.”
The Star