OWN CORRESPONDENT, London | Wednesday 6.00pm.
SPRINGBOK fly-half hero Jannie de Beer warned on Wednesday that it would be silly to expect a repeat performance of his world record five drop goals when South Africa face Australia in the World Cup semi-finals at Twickenham on Saturday.
De Beer kicked a total of 34 points as South Africa downed England 44-21 in the quarter-finals, but the Free State ace shrugged off his performance and said the team effort is what counts.
“Paris was just one of those days,” he said. “Things happened on the day, and I would like to take it in that light. Everything clicked, that is the way I took it. But this South African team is not a one-man show, definitely not.”
Speaking of his prospects of dropping more goals against Australia, de Beer said: “It is a good opportunity, but you can blow it by just making too big a thing of it. Maybe not everything I do will be right, and if it is not I will try something else.”
South African coach Nick Mallett will announce his side to play Australia on Thursday but he has already said de Beer is a certain starter, even if regular fly-half Henry Honiball is fit.
Mallett, pointing to the fact South Africa have conceded only two tries in the tournament, said a good defence was essential to create the platform for exploits like those of de Beer.
“Our defence has been good and at this stage it comes down to taking your opportunities. If the opportunities present themselves where you can either kick goals or drops, we will do that and hopefully try and pressurise them into mistakes.
“If you look at the England vs New Zealand match, 75% of the points scored that day were because of opposition mistakes.” — AFP