Edinburgh - Quality of performance is going to be a lot more important for the Springboks on Saturday than the points they put on Scotland at Murrayfield.
With two wins in two starts, you would say it has been a case of so far, so good for the Boks. They left South Africa a few weeks ago with expectations lowered by the combination of a spate of injury-related withdrawals and the disastrous Tri-Nations campaign that saw them take the wooden spoon.
But while the win over Ireland was excellent in terms of what it did to confidence levels – after all, the Boks hadn’t won in Dublin since 2000 and last week’s come-from-behind effort in Cardiff showed they have plenty of character – it all does need to be put in perspective.
As much as the Boks were in crisis before they left on tour, so were Wales and Ireland. Both those teams have gone a while now without beating a top nation, and it was only a few matches ago that the Irish conceded over 70 points to New Zealand.
By their own admission, the Boks, even though they have been winning, have not been playing well. The way the win was achieved last week was a triumph for good old blood and guts and a typical South African refusal to be beaten. It was a step forward, for in winning a game they should have lost, it showed the Boks have those indefinable qualities that distinguish champion teams from the rest.
It has been said and written often enough already on this trip – this tour is about attitude and rebuilding the pride in the Bok brand after the massive dents sustained in mid-year.
That is all well and good, and the objective is being achieved.
What lies ahead for the Boks though, beyond today’s match is next week’s clash with England – and that is a match that is now looming as the team’s most significant and perhaps only really meaningful examination of any growth in their game.
It was a southern hemisphere game that England employed to beat Australia. That means England are the only team the Boks will encounter on this trip that will subject them to the sort of defensive test they can expect from genuine World Cup contenders. And that is why today it’s important that the Boks do start getting together those aspects of their game where they have been found wanting thus far.
Defence is part of it, carrying the ball is another, and as skipper Victor Matfield says, it can all be summed up by a single word – accuracy.
Bok coach Peter de Villiers believes the players pace themselves, and he may be right about that. In three of the last four games, they have given the impression that they only thought the match started in the 35th minute.
That is not something they can afford against England, and Matfield won’t want it to happen against Scotland. The Scots lost 49-3 to the All Blacks last week, but the Kiwis are on a different level to this Bok team. The Scots gave as good as they got for long periods in the tight phases, they have Nathan Hines back to strengthen their line-out options, and they have a front-row as strong as the Welsh one that periodically troubled the Boks in Cardiff.
It’s a good thing for the Boks, for they need their game to click against proper opposition before they get to Twickenham. - Weekend Argus