OWN CORRESPONDENT, Glasgow | Thursday 4.30pm.
IT is not often that Uruguay have been likened to the mighty All Blacks – but that is exactly how world champions South Africa will see the South American part-timers when the two teams run out here at Hampden Park on Friday.
Springbok coach Nick Mallett said his team would throw everything into their final Group A match as the Springboks endeavour to erase the memory of their dreadful display against Spain as quickly as possible.
Despite the loss of flyhalf Henry Honiball, Mallett has named a full-strength side and nothing short of an embarrassingly one-sided victory will satisfy the critics who have savaged the Springboks after Sunday’s 47-3 win over Spain at Murrayfield.
The performance against the European no-hopers, considered as nothing more than cannon-fodder for the tournaments big guns, has been described in some quarters as the worst display by South Africa in 30 years.
“We’ll be playing against Uruguay as if we were playing against the All Blacks,” said Mallett.
“I was not happy with our performance against Spain. We tried to play a running game, but nothing was structured and again we made far too many mistakes.
“Against Uruguay, the tight forwards must focus on their primary role, not stand around waiting to score a try. They must get in there and clean the ball out. I want more Indians and less chiefs for this match.”
Mallett is also hoping for a better atmosphere at Hampden after less than 4,000 turned out to at the 67000-capacity Murrayfield on Sunday.
But he refused to blame the Scottish public for the demise in attendances, instead adding his weight to the pressure being piled on World Cup organisers to cut ticket prices.
Mallett insisted: “It was great for us against Scotland at Murrayfield – the atmosphere was electric, but people don’t really want to go when the home nations aren’t playing.
“It’s very expensive to watch World Cup games — I don’t know what the wages are like out here but for a family to go and watch a game it would cost around 100 pounds ($165).
“They should let kids in for free to fill the grounds — players prefer playing when stadiums are full.” — AFP
Did the match against Spain prove the Boks are far from ready to take the World Cup?