The Boks are currently two from two on their end-of-season tour and even if they make it three from three, this tour they stuttered to wins over Wales and Scotland and now they’re facing an England team that it is in a rebuilding phase. This should have been a game to showcase the Boks’ talent and ability – not a game that we will hopefully win at a ground that has not been kind to us over the years. (The Boks have won just three from 10 matches at Twickenham since 1992.
Losing Bismarck du Plessis is a blow and the Boks were nearly caught out by having just Brian Mujati to back up John Smit, but it’s not often that you lose the world’s second best hooker in Bismarck and replace him with the world’s best – and a World Cup-winning captain to boot.
Fourie du Preez’s fitness is a worry for the Boks, but so too is the form of Bryan Habana; he is a class act, but injuries have hampered him this season and that, in turn, has affected his confidence. At the same time, however, he is not getting a lot of ball in space at the moment and I doubt a fully confident and in-form Bryan Habana would be making much of a difference right now.
England might have taken a bit of a hiding up front against the Wallabies last weekend, but they actually have a very dangerous backline at the moment, with serious pace in their back three. Delon Armitage, Paul Sackey and Ugo Monye are not footballers in the Bryan Habana mould, but if they get decent ball in broken play they could be devastating.
Just over 12 months ago South Africa and England battled it out for our sports’ ultimate prize, the World Cup. On that occasion the Springboks emerged victorious but who will take the glory this time around?Having had the chance to hear the 23-year-old speak a couple of times, I can assure everyone he will not die wondering – he will test himself against the best, Schalk Burger, and it should be a cracking contest.
While I might disagree with the conclusion there is no denying the Boks are not looking like the team which won last year’s World Cup and, one dominating performance over Australia aside, they have yet to really produce the style, or results, that the coach is looking for. The question is though, is this England side good enough to take advantage of it?
Recent Results:
2007 South Africa won 15-6 Stade de France, Paris WC Final
2007 South Africa won 36-0 Stade de France, Paris WC Pool
2007 South Africa won 55-22 Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
2007 South Africa won 58-10 Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein
2006 South Africa won 25-14 Twickenham, London
2006 England won 23-21 Twickenham, London
2004 England won 32-16 Twickenham, London
2003 England won 25-6 Subiaco Oval, Perth WC Pool
2002 England won 53-3 Twickenham, London
2001 England won 29-9 Twickenham, London
2000 England won 25-17 Twickenham, London
2000 England won 27-22 Vodacom Park, Bloemfontein
A couple of centimetres of white chalk made all the difference in France last year so one can only imagine what will tilt the balance this time around.
To say the two teams have undergone massive changes over the last few months would be an understatement. South Africa, under new coach Peter De Villiers have enjoyed a rollercoaster ride which has seen them record famous wins over the All Blacks in New Zealand as well as a record size win over Australia, but also then seen them fail to impress in the Tri-Nations as a whole and, very recently, producing unconvincing performances against both Wales and Scotland.
Forgetting all the ongoing off-field nonsense which seems to plague them, this is undeniably still very much a Springbok side in transition, both in personnel and style.
