Smit acknowledges Wallabies’ edge
3 Oct 2011
John Smit says Australia’s dominance of the Springboks in the last two years will benefit them, but he draws confidence from his side’s superior experience in World Cup play-off matches.
The Springboks have lost five of their last six Tests against the Wallabies, two of those defeats coming in South Africa. Smit said you couldn’t discount that as a factor in assessing their chances, but stressed that knock-out rugby is a different beast altogether.
‘They have one up on us over the last two seasons. They’ll definitely feel that they have a mental edge because results have favoured them,’ Smit said.
‘We’ve thrown a couple of different options at them selection-wise, so you have to bear that in mind when assessing those results. We view this as a fresh start in terms of where we want to go over the next three weeks. They’ll want to tap into what has happened in this fixture in the last two years. So it is two different mindsets. It would be naive not to accept that.
‘[But] Tri-Nations games are different to what a World Cup Test provides [in terms of playing style]. We’re both in a situation where there it is do or die. Our experience in these situations is beneficial. We’ll see if we can use that experience to help us. We have to make sure we take the heat and still maintain the composure to do what you’ve set out to. There are so many factors that come into play. Fortunately we’ve got a couple of guys who have seen a couple of different scenarios play out [at the World Cup].’
Smit added there was a discernible change in the feel within the squad. ‘The real World Cup starts now. The tournament is set up in two different phases and you definitely feel the shift in pressure and intensity now,’ he said.
‘Some guys who have played in World Cups before will attest to that, and the others who haven’t been here before will feel a different kind of vibe. But pressure creates special performances and the key question is whether we can use that [pressure] to our advantage.’
Smit said the results of the pool phase were irrelevant now, but argued that those four matches were beneficial in other ways. ‘We came into the tournament a little undercooked and we certainly derived some value in terms of the game time and getting players into form. Now everybody is on the same level. The results from the pool phase aren’t relevant, but the experiences thereof are still valuable,’ he said.
Asked where Australia’s primary threat lies, coach Peter de Villiers said: ‘Their decision-making [in turnover situations] is spot on. Where they are better than most is that they attack from deep and make yardage immediately and force you to scramble on defence. They force the width and spaces on the field. If they get that right we’re in for a long day. If we can shut them down, it’ll be an equal contest.’
In this regard, the Springboks will have to nullify the influence of openside flank David Pocock to improve their chance of victory. His value was illuminated in his absence in the defeat to Ireland and the Springboks have to improve their ball retention exponentially (they are among the leading teams in the tournament for errors or turnovers while in possession) if they hope to render him a non-factor.
‘They are very good at the breakdown, that’s where they make so much of their play from. We’ll have to look after our ball through phases,’ De Villiers said.
He said there was also a plan to negotiate the mercurial Quade Cooper. ‘We will get it wrong if we make his decisions for him. If we allow him to make his own, we’ll be ready for him.’
73 Comments
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3 Oct 2011, 08:16 am
@Fern is not a stud,he is merely no19(Fern)-49:
lyk somtyds vir my al die ****** kiwis is benchmarks…
@BillMcConnell(BillMcConnell)-50:
you keep talking bill…you keep talking…
3 Oct 2011, 08:17 am
****** = ffokken
3 Oct 2011, 08:48 am
‘We’ve thrown a couple of different options at them selection-wise, so you have to bear that in mind when assessing those results.’
Nonsense, Smit has captained SA in all 4 of the lost 5 tests v Oz over the last 2 years, which has included unprecedented consecutive home defeats – the common denominator being Smit, Matfield and Spies playing in both. How they going to change that especially since the RWC is being played in australasia not loftus?
This was the side that lost to Oz in SA just 6 weeks ago at kings park:
1. Beast 2. Smit 3. Jdup 4. Bakkies 5. Matfield 6. Brussow 7. Rossouw 8. Spies
9. FdP 10. Butch 11. Habana 12. JdV 13. Fourie 14. JP 15. Frans
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing twice expecting a different result. Our only win of the 3N this year was our last test v NZ, in which they eventually started Bismarck and Alberts – what a miracle hey.
3 Oct 2011, 09:09 am
Hopefully we will never year the story how , boring the Bulls play from anyone in Durban.
“Paas” net die bal vir Deysel, klink soos iets wat Robbie Wessels sou sing.
Daar tackle die vasity cup seuns vir oom Deysel, en Sharkies het vergeet om plan B te bring.
Maak nie saak wat jy doen nie, “paas” net die bal vir Deysel.
3 Oct 2011, 09:11 am
@cab(cab)-53: Paas net die bal vir Deysel, You forget that the bokke were all over Auz untill we got tired
3 Oct 2011, 09:14 am
1 Gurthro
2 smit
3 Jannie
4 Rossouw
5 Victor
6 Bruss
7 Burger
8Spies
9 FdP
10 Morne
11 habs
12 JdV no choice
13 Mossie .. please stay in defence line
14 JP
15 Lambie
3 Oct 2011, 09:21 am
reechie maak so lank die pan warm, bakkies bring die wors – ask me to keep talking and I will. 5 days to go and I’m going to jump into everyone. Never felt as confident. You can put up any team you like and we’ve got you. Your captain knows it, your coach knows it. Scrums won’t be the big advantage you may think they will be – you guys are nearly as **** as us at that! Even Burger was saying he’d prefer to play anyone but us in the 1/4s – what’s that tell you about their state of mind? Should be a cracker mind you – and I expect it to be frigging hard – but I’d prefer to be going in with our record and team than yours any day of the week.
3 Oct 2011, 09:40 am
@BillMcConnell(BillMcConnell)-57:
bill, we rested our first team this year and last year too. add to that our first team was exhausted in 2010.
you will find the scrums will go a lot worse for you than you would have thought…even worse than it did against ireland. is pocock 110%? he’ll need that extra 10 against us.
please be so kind as to drop by after the game in order to entertain me with all your talking then…am looking forward to it.
3 Oct 2011, 09:56 am
@capebull(capebull)-55: 20 minutes into the game…
3 Oct 2011, 10:34 am
@reechie maak so lank die pan warm, bakkies bring die wors – no my friend you did not. You may have rested top line players in the away legs during the Tri series, but back on home soil you played your number one team and got smoked up front and out wide by the so-call Wannabees. Also, Pocock did not play against Ireland hence O’Brien had it all his own way in that game. In fact Pocock could be 80% and still rule the breakdown against your boys. If you don’t even get close to parity on that front you wont get within 10pts. And yes, I am a man of my word, so if you boys do a number on us this weekend I promise I will drop by with a slice of pie and I will cop whatever is served up.
3 Oct 2011, 11:05 am
@BillMcConnell. In those five tests you refer to frequently, how many did Brussow play in. Is he our best player? I remember the one test our loose trio was Spies, Kankowski and Burger and Pocock dominated the rucks. No surprise.
Don’t you think the amount of games you guys played this year and peaking one or two months ago is counting against you.
3 Oct 2011, 11:09 am
capebull – Not a bad side. IF we do lose one of our wings then i would move JDV to the wing and bring Butch on in the centre. We are goin got need bruisers out there on Sunday!!
10 Morne
11 habs
12 Butch
13 Mossie .. please stay in defence line
14 JDV
15 Lambie
Becnh:-
Hougie
Ruan Pienaar ( he still has got sometinh to offer)
3 Oct 2011, 11:15 am
How the hell did ZK get chosen. Unelievable what we need is scrumhalf Im sorry to say but FDP is just not himself and has had 5 or so games to get back in. The only reason Pretorius is not there is because of FDP, and the Bulls players come on VM is great player but as you can see love taking the Bulls players with them, and dont think outside the circle, very narrow minded. Thank God for John Smit if he was not there g-d only knows… Boks will not win this game Im afraid to say, Samoa had the better of the boks at the breakdown second half, Aus will tear the boks apart. As for Brussow he has not turned up where is the brussow that played against the Kiwis last Tn game. Dont think him and Burger play well together. The only way I can see the boks winning is if – Brussow, FDP and JDV turn up and play if not – They will be back home watching the Semi finals.
3 Oct 2011, 11:31 am
@race of tan(race of tan)-62: Terrible
3 Oct 2011, 11:47 am
Ratel Brussow – Would you rahter hte light weights JDJ and Aplon involved!!!
3 Oct 2011, 12:19 pm
No wonder John Smit rates the Wallabies so highly – he always loses against them.
His performance on Saturday was a disaster … hoepfully he will ram all my comments down my throat, but on current form he is shocking and actually benefits the other side.
if he HAS to play I would rather he start and contribute to the atrrition and physicality – but coming on as an IMPACT player at the expense of Bismarck is ridiculous. I would only bring John Smit on in place of Bissie if we were leading by 20 points with 10 minutes to go and the purpose would be to save Bissie from a Frans Steyn-like injury.
It’s occurred to me that if Hougaard hadn’t injured himself immediately and gone off Jean de V. would have replaced Steyn at inside centre and he would have come off and been OK today.
Makes you believe in Fate, doesn’t it.
3 Oct 2011, 14:11 pm
@TheTackler(TheTackler)-6:
Yip that is ridiculous
3 Oct 2011, 14:17 pm
I’m very worried about the Aussies – we beat them in 1995 in the pool stages and they beat us in 99 in the semi finals.
What might safe us is they might not have cool enough heads for this sort of pressure. They are a young side.
Let’s hope we crush them on defense and put some points on the board with Steyn’s boot.
Stay in their side of the fields as much as possible.
3 Oct 2011, 14:20 pm
@BillMcConnell(BillMcConnell)-60:
3 Oct 2011, 14:22 pm
@stormer in a teacup(stormer in a teacup)-13:
ahahahahahah
love it
3 Oct 2011, 14:33 pm
Horings – and others – make no mistake – we have enormous respect for this Bok side but as I have said elsewhere, it is a side that is past its prime. The only players that are peaking (as opposed to having their best days behind them) are Brussow and BdP. Your locking pair are playing bloody well but your backs are some damn predictable. Also this Wallaby side is the youngest on average in the Cup and are peaking. The Wallabies will be fielding their best, and most complete side of the season and Deans has them ready. I think the pace of this game may prove to be the decider and your boys are just that little bit slower than they were.
3 Oct 2011, 21:53 pm
Tackler i believe that you are an ex saffa is that true,and if it is the truth why are you so anti- bok.You live in NZ fair enough and it is your perogative to support the all blacks if you wish,but surely you must still have some feeling left for the boks,and if you have not i would like to know why so that i can understand your very obvious dislike of the boks.
3 Oct 2011, 22:01 pm
@blueboy(blueboy)-72: Its a self hate thing… You can also see it in ET…
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