Monday’s video session must have been a gloomy affair. The room would have been filled with battered and bruised Springboks who put their bodies and reputations on the line against England and won everything but the match.

The Springbok second team fluffed its lines against Georgia at Aussie Stadium, but won a hard fought contest 46-19. With a number of places up for grabs in Rudolf Straeuli’s first choice 15, only the Bulls pair of flanker Danie Rossouw and flyhalf Derick Hougaard and Lions centre Jacque Fourie managed to rise above the general mediocrity.

When the Boks play Georgia, things could hardly be more different than the game against England. Firstly, they can confidently expect to win by 60 points, perhaps more. Secondly, they’re now on the opposite side of Australia to Perth and can expect to see far fewer replica jerseys in the crowd. And thirdly, who said there’d be a crowd?

It’s hard to admit this, but every single South African player could have the game of his life on Saturday and still be on the losing side. That’s how good this England side is. Those who perceive Woodward’s team to be paper tigers may care to remind themselves of the day in June when 13 Englishmen repelled 15 All Blacks with something close to impunity.

South Africa’s World Cup got off to a rousing start with a 72-6 defeat of Uruguay in Perth, the highest score recorded by South Africa in three World Cups. The Springboks scored 12 tries — six in either half — and were far more convincing than against the same opposition at the 1999 tournament.

The new millennium has not been kind to the Springboks and, let’s be blunt, there is no cause for optimism over the 2003 Rugby World Cup. After the false dawn of 2002 when, under new coach Rudolf Straeuli, the Boks played thrilling rugby (but still lost three out of four games) the 2003 season has been an unmitigated disaster.

It’s hard to believe today, but when South Africa last played Uruguay they were the reigning World Champions and would remain so for a further fortnight. It was hard to believe then, too, for against ”Los Teros” the Boks were simply terrible.

Predicting the outcome of the Rugby World Cup 2003 tournament should be easy. Take the bookmakers’ favourites and put your house on them. Except that the bookmakers favour (albeit narrowly) New Zealand. If we move one place down the bookmakers’ rankings we find the real winners of the World Cup: England.

It’s been a while since 20 000 people attended a game of rugby in Bloemfontein and despite Corne Krige’s chagrin at the reception given his Springbok team on Tuesday night, quite clearly not everyone bought a ticket simply to exercise their right to boo.