South Africa are plotting another World Cup ambush of New Zealand as tension builds ahead of their seismic quarter-final showdown here on Saturday.
The Springboks announced their team to face the All Blacks on Thursday, making only one change as expected, with powerful loose forward Danie Rossouw replacing injured flanker Joe van Niekerk.
Precocious 20-year-old fly-half Derick Hougaard has been retained, hinting that coach Rudolf Straueli intends to keep faith with a game-plan blending raw power with width.
But the South Africans are staying silent over tactics as they plan to derail New Zealand for the third World Cup in a row following victory in the 1995 final and 1999 third place play-off.
South Africa lock Victor Matfield said the Springboks had shown in pool matches against Samoa and England that they had the ability to play different styles.
”If you take the England game and the Samoa game it was two different game plans we played and we can go out on Saturday and play any one of the two,” Matfield said.
”It’s just up to us to decide which one we want to play. We’ve got a lot of players that can come on and put more pressure on.”
South Africa captain Corne Krige said the South Africans were only worrying about their own game despite drawing encouragement from New Zealand’s shaky 53-37 win over Wales on Sunday.
”It is important that we play the game we want to play and focus on our strengths,” said Krige, who is expecting a sharp improvement in New Zealand compared to their performance against Wales.
New Zealand coach John Mitchell has meanwhile played down the significance of the defensive lapses against Wales, stressing they can be easily fixed. Nevertheless the issue appears to have been addressed at length during the All Blacks preparations this week, according to players.
Centre Leon MacDonald said missed tackles had been pinpointed as the main cause of the defensive woes.
”It doesn’t matter how good you are, if you miss a tackle your whole defensive system breaks down,” MacDonald said. ”So we went back this week and started from scratch and worked on our tackling.”
Whichever gameplan South Africa choose to adopt, New Zealand are steeling themselves for another ferocious encounter in the best traditions of what is invariably one of rugby’s most bruising fixtures.
”Every time you go into a match against South Africa people always say they are a physical side,” All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall said. ”It’s a bit of a cliche but it’s the honest truth.
”They’re very confrontational. They breed them big in South Africa and they test you up front. They like to play an aggressive game.
”That’s going to be the real challenge for us — and we’re prepared to meet that challenge.”
Mitchell meanwhile is uneasy about what he described as an ”edge of desperation” in the Springboks camp which he believes will make them even more dangerous than usual.
The New Zealand coach said the South Africans were welded together as a unit after coming through the myriad controversies over foul play and racism which dogged their build up.
”There’s a real edge of desperation about them, you can see it,” said Mitchell.
”The poor buggers have gone through a fair bit of shit in their preparations for this World Cup and I think they’re using that to become a strength.”
The winner of Saturday’s game will face either Australia or Scotland in the semi-finals.
South Africa and New Zealand have played each other 62 times since the first meeting between the teams in 1921, with the All Blacks winning 33 to the Springboks 26. Three matches have been drawn. – Sapa-AFP