England captain Martin Johnson paid South Africa the ultimate rugby compliment yesterday when he described them as “the most physical side in the world”.
With Saturday’s Group C decider looming, Johnson admitted: “It will be pretty difficult to win the World Cup if we lose on Saturday.”
England have a mounting injury problem – when I came to the team hotel today, scrum half Kyran Bracken was desperately trying to find an open chemist, presumably to get medication for his bad back.
With fellow scrum-halves Matt Dawson and Andy Gomarsall also struggling, Bath’s Martyn Wood arrived this morning but has yet to be officially called in to the squad.
Up in the beautiful Sheraton ballroom, Johnson told us: “Injuries are part of a World Cup. You’re always going to get a few niggles. I’m not making light of it. Obviously it would be nice to have 30 fit guys.
“But these things happen, it’s a tough game. It’s not ideal but it’s something we can deal with as players.
“I know the South Africans have got a few injuries too. Hopefully the lads will come back in to it later in the week.
“It’s got nothing to do with the Subiaco Oval surface, it’s perfect for us really.”
Pressed on the size of the task ahead, Jonno said: “It’s a huge game. We’re in Test mode, preparing for a big game. We’ve done that many times, but we’ve got to raise ourselves for a really big one.
“Things have been pretty close. They beat us pretty well in 1995 and 1997. The series in South Africa could have gone either way but ended 1-1.
“There’s more anxiety, more nerves. But that’s part of a big game.
“Style doesn’t matter. There’s no such thing as style in forward play. You’re just trying to do it to them before they do it to you. One of the keys will be to keep the penalty count down. You’ve got to get the right balance.
“I think, when we played them in November, they were in a transitional phase. Not many of those players will be playing on Saturday.
“You’ve got to be wary of the Springboks, there’s no such thing as a bad South African side. They’ve only lost one World Cup game in their history.”
As always, the issue of the incident-packed 53-3 win at Twickenham last November was raised repeatedly. Johnson insists: “Teams don’t get intimidated by foul play, they get intimidated by good, fast, hard rugby.
“Our guys are very disciplined, that’s how we want to play.
“At Twickenham in November they felt backed into a corner because they’d just lost to Scotland. They were under pressure. We’ve been watching them a lot on tape this week. They’ve got some big hitters, the play very direct. Their kicking game is quite strong too. They’re a much stronger side than they were in November.
“I think South Africa are the most physical side in the world. You can’t play this game without being physical.
“At some point bodies are going to come together and we have to make sure we are stronger. Both teams are good scrummagers but we’ll be trying to find an edge there.
“Hopefully the referee won’t be a major factor and the game will be won by the players.”