Mike Greenaway
LONDON: Desperation mode, full red alert, panic stations – call it what you want, but that is the state of mind of the Springboks going into tonight’s World Cup match against the USA, according to captain Fourie du Preez.
The World Cup pool stage winds up this week and the Boks play the first of the final round of Pool B matches today (kick-off 5.45pm SA time) at London’s Olympic Stadium.
If they win, they are guaranteed to top the pool and will play the runners-up in Pool A in a quarter-final at Twickenham on October 17 (against the loser of Saturday’s Pool A match between Wales and Australia).
“The way we see it, if we beat the Americans, and I don’t care if it is by one point, then we will top Pool B and our destiny cannot be changed by whatever results happen on the weekend (Scotland play Samoa and the USA have to quickly recover and play Japan),” Du Preez said.
“It is a massive carrot for us to go out and do the business, and then have the luxury of putting our feet up for 10 days before the quarter-finals,” the captain added.
“Our approach is ‘go big against the USA or we go home’.”
To be fair to the Boks, they have to take this approach given the nuclear fallout from their loss to Japan, but in all honesty, if they cannot beat the USA, then they deserve to go home – via three months in the Siberian salt mines.
“I have never felt such incredible pressure as a Springbok as I did in the two weeks after losing to Japan,” Du Preez said.
“The build-up to the World Cup final in 2007 was a breeze in comparison.
“The weight of the world has been on our shoulders and we had to shrug it off and beat Samoa and Scotland. And we simply will not risk losing to the USA by either fielding an understrength team or not taking them seriously.
“We are going out to play for our World Cup lives.”