Overcoming the first hurdle is always crucial

WHEN it comes to World Cups, the first game, regardless of who you face, is one of the most important games of the tournament.

You’ve been preparing for months and years to arrive at the global stage — the nerves ring true, the anticipation is at its peak ahead of that first game of the World Cup.

Each of the 31 Springbok players who left for the UK is looking forward to that moment when the showpiece officially starts, against Japan in Brighton next weekend.

Before that magical kickoff, coach Heyneke Meyer will have a long think about how his men will approach the breakdown, which for me is an element of the game that could determine who lifts the Webb Ellis trophy by October 31.

The Springboks are always recognised as serious contenders at a World Cup. People will put their money on them, or New Zealand, being one of the finalists.

Similar to the All Blacks, Meyer has gone for lots of experience. Meyer’s selections, compared to Steve Hansen’s, are interesting because when we came close to beating them at Ellis Park, we employed Hein- ASHWIN Willemse played in two world champion Springbok teams: the Boks of 2007 and the Baby Boks of 2002. He played in 19 tests for the Springboks, scoring five tries, and was on the winning side 12 times. In 2003, he was named Player of the Year. He retired in 2007 and is a TV match analyst with Supersport. rich Brüssow and Louw on the flanks.

We played with two openside flankers, but in the final squad there was just one: Louw.

The Wallabies have Michael Hooper and David Pocock, who

Francois operated in tandem successfully in the Rugby Championship.

Against the All Blacks in the decider, that illustrated the importance of having fetchers in the team to stop your opponents’ momentum. It worked brilliantly. If you look at how rugby has evolved, the technical aspect of the ruck has become a highly contested space within the game — and understandably so.

The pace of the modern game requires that you get good quality, quick ball and the only way to do that is to protect your ball.

For the defence to prevent that, they must get players to the ball to contest on the carpet, setting up a sumptuous duel between the fetchers and cleaners.

Teams that want to win this tournament will have to get fetchers who are effective at getting to the ball quickly.

The good thing for the Springboks is that, even if Louw is flying solo, hooker Bismarck du Plessis and Duane Vermeulen have the ability to be as effective as any openside flanker at the ruck.

The two have proven on numerous occasions that they can stop tries by creating turnovers. This gives Meyer’s team the slight upper hand against whoever we play against.

Bismarck on his own is on par with any fetcher in world rugby.

My only concern is that Vermeulen is coming back from injury. Will he be as effective?

Louw has everything — size, he is a lineout option and is a great ball-carrier — and counts as one of the top fetchers worldwide. Siya Kolisi can play six, seven and eight, so too can Schalk Burger. Burger’s experience puts him ahead of Kolisi for a position on the bench.

If I were wearing Meyer’s hat, the combination I’d go for is that of Louw, Willem Alberts and Vermeulen. That combo can be devastating in giving the Boks go-forward and all three are lineout options.

The good thing about the

The Springboks are always seen as serious contenders My concern is that Vermeulen is coming back from injury

makeup of the entire squad is that it has players with the proven ability to play a more expansive game and they are also tactically astute. Defensively, they can be good too. We will be able to play a number of different game plans depending on the opposition.