Wales are ready for ‘warfare’
Springboks juggernaut will take some stopping, insists Roberts
IF Wales are to turn history on i ts head today, they are in the right place. Twickenham is where their management team have so often reigned supreme.
Warren Gatland, Shaun Edwards and Rob Howley have so much previous at the home of English rugby, where they have gone for trophies and glory over the years at club and Test level.
While the Springboks are clear favourites to win today’s first quarter-final, they would do well to heed some disturbing omens.
In 2003, while Gatland and Edwards were in charge of Wasps, they claimed the Premiership title at Twickenham, with Howley running the show at scrum-half.
A year later, Howley poached the decisive late try as Wasps stunned Toulouse to win the Heineken Cup i n the same arena. They also claimed the league title again that year — and the next — at HQ.
After a break in the sequence caused by Gatland’s stint back in New Zealand with Waikato, the trio were reunited as Wales’ new management team at the start of 2008 and they immediately revived their Twickenham success story.
A first Welsh away victory over England since 1988 set the wheels in motion for a Grand Slam at the f i rst attempt. That f eat was repeated in 2012 and two weeks ago when they beat the host nation 28-25 in the pool stage.
The men plotting to defy the odds and overthrow South Africa will need that Twickenham factor in their favour, as the bigger picture is one of Springbok dominance.
They have faced Wales 30 times and won 27 of them, losing just twice, but the latter defeat was in Cardiff 11 months ago.
Yet, South Africa will also be comfortable in their surroundings today, having won their last five Tests at Twickenham.
The Springboks, winners of Scotland’s section, have a dynamic new centre pairing, Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel, and their wings are on a try-scoring roll.
But Wales are in no doubt that the greatest threat they will face is their rivals’ physicality, backed by an astute kicking game.
Jamie Roberts knows what to expect. The centre said: ‘You have to match South Africa physically before anything else.
‘The challenge is to get the mind right and put your bodies on the line for physical warfare. You must be ready for their kicking game, too. ’
Roberts was part of the British & Irish Lions team who were battered into submission by the Boks in the pivotal second Test in Pretoria in 2009.
‘There were six of us in an ambulance after that game going to hospital,’ he said. ‘That’s what lies in store for us this weekend. It’s pretty gruesome but we are ready for complete warfare.’
South Africa are expecting a similar onslaught in response.
Their No 8 Duane Vermeulen said: ‘It will be a massive, physical battle. The Welsh won’t back down.’
With Dan Lydiate and Gethin Jenkins restored to the side, Wales have seven of the forwards who started in Cardiff when they beat the Boks last year.
They will need their leading men to set a confrontational, emotional tone and much of that is likely to come from the man reaching his Test century — Alun Wyn Jones.
If the South Africans are to be quelled, much of the onus will fall on the mighty Ospreys lock.
Gatland must also hope that a refreshed Lydiate can resume the destructive routine which has so often brought the best out of Sam Warburton and maintain the fine defensive work of recent weeks.
Captain Warburton will be charged with negating Francois Louw’s ruck threat, while much rests on tighthead Samson Lee stopping the Springboks establishing supremacy in the scrum.
Wales have endured so many injury setbacks during this World Cup. So much quality has been lost with the enforced absence of Jonathan Davies, Leigh Halfpenny, Rhys Webb, Liam Williams and Scott Williams.
At full strength, this would be an epic contest but, in t hese circumstances, the Boks appear to have a depth of firepower which Wales won’t be able to withstand.
It doesn’t look like the day for Gatland, Edwards and Howley to add to their glittering Twickenham record.