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 18/9/07
Keo, in the Argus, writes the Boks will be
wearing another shade of green on Friday
night.
The Springboks will be willing Ireland to
beat France as defeat for the hosts will
eliminate them from the tournament.
Victory will ensure the French World Cup
ambition lives on, as does the possibility
of the Springboks facing France in a
semi-final at Stade de France on October 14.
Jake White’s Boks are running hot at this
World Cup, but the weather will be different
a month from now and there can never be any
guarantee that the form of today will be
there tomorrow.
The Boks believe they can beat anyone, but
it would make for a more comfortable semi
final facing one of Ireland or Argentina
than hosts France.
If there is a team capable of beating anyone
in a one-off it is France. Equally they have
shown themselves capable of struggling
against anyone.
Friday night for France at the Parc de
Princess is huge. It is a play-off match,
while Ireland know they can still lose and
get another life in beating the Pumas a week
later.
The Boks, based in Paris, have enjoyed the
lack of media scrutiny after being the
flavour of the tournament in the opening
week.
Having played two matches in six days the
Boks are desperate to ensure they don’t drop
their standards against Tonga, but it is
unlikely we will see as complete a
performance as against England.
There is a class gap in the first and second
team, as we saw when one tripped over
Connacht and the other trampled over
Scotland.
White will merely want to get through this
week with a win and minimal injury
disruption. The win he will get because the
Boks are too good to lose to the Tongans,
but what the future holds in injury he
cannot influence.
Johann Muller’s calf strain in yesterday’s
training session already complicated
Saturday’s selection and Albert van den Berg
may be required to start at lock. Van den
Berg was originally going to play flank, so
as to give Danie Rossouw rest.
White this week will keep one eye on his
team and the other on France, who finished
off Namibia 87-10.
The French players were cautious to declare
their World Cup campaign on track again,
saying they could only say that if they beat
Ireland.
Scrumhalf Jean Baptiste Elissalde told the
media. “I don’t want to hear any
superlatives about our performance because
only yesterday we were only good enough to
throw in the dustbin. Don’t raise us up
after knocking us down.”
Ireland coach Eddie O’Sullivan acknowledged
his team was in a crisis after they narrowly
beat Namibia and snuck past Georgia 14-10,
but he said there was more pressure on
France to win on Friday.
“I wouldn’t say it’s the biggest match of my
career, but it’s certainly big.”
The last time Ireland beat France was in
Paris in 2000 and O’Sullivan’s side has lost
their last five Tests against France,
including the 2003 World Cup quarter-final
in Australia.
France coach Bernard Laporte said his team
needed a match like Namibia to give them
momentum.
“It was very instructive despite the massive
score,” said Laporte. “The World Cup route
has opened up again.”
That World Cup route could include the
Springboks - and ideally it is one
confrontation White would want to avoid.
As well as the Boks have done against the
All Blacks in the last four years, the
opposite is true of their performances
against France.
They’ve won only once in four starts and the
only time they played at the Stade de France
they were beaten.
The Boks, having turned on the charm in the
first week, are very much a sideshow in
Paris this week. But they know it is
Friday’s main event between Ireland and
France that means more to the Boks World Cup
campaign than the manner of victory against
Tonga in Lens.
MARK KEOHANE |
keo.co.za | Tuesday, 18 September 2007 |
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