Faf: ‘Wales could be bogey team’
The All Blacks and England are sure to deliver an absolute classic
EXPERIENCED scrumhalf Faf de Klerk admitted the Springboks’ Rugby World Cup semi-final opponents, Wales, are something of a bogey team for them.
Wales have beaten the Boks five times out of their last six meetings. The teams clash in the second semi-final in Yokohama on Sunday for a place in the final and a meeting with either England or New Zealand.
“Looking at those stats maybe they are a bogey team,” said the Bok No 9, who has come in for some stinging criticism in recent times because of his regular box-kicking during games. He was, however, named man of the match against Japan in the quarter-final last weekend.
Wales’ recent record against the Boks is impressive. The only win by the Boks in the last six meetings came in the quarter-finals stage of the last World Cup in England, when the Boks registered a 23-19 win at Twickenham.
“The last time I played against Wales, in 2016, we had a completely different team,” said De Klerk, referring to the 2016 and 2017 seasons when the Boks were coached by Allister Coetzee.
“We had a different way of attacking and playing and we never got into what makes Wales tick. Now it’s different ... we know how Wales play and what their threats are. We’ve also probably got the best team and structures in place now of the last few years.”
De Klerk though, who despite the criticism remains a central figure in the Bok game-plan and is sure to wear the No 9 on his back on Sunday, said every team they’d face from now on would be a “bogey team”.
“It’s going to be a slippery one (this weekend),” he said. “But it’s a World Cup semi-final and anyone from now on will pose a big threat. We simply have to do our analysis as best we can and be up for it this weekend.”
RUGBY World Cup semi-finals over the years have generally passed us by.
We vividly recall the finals but a semi-final will only jar in the memory if there was a major upset. Apart from the Boks v France in the rain at Kings Park in 1995, only two spring to mind for me, both involving New Zealand losing, and that’s why they are unforgettable, because of the rarity value.
The first was in 1999 when smug All Blacks coach John Hart took his all-conquering side for a holiday on the beach in the south of France before returning to play France in the semi-final, where the French produced a brilliant secondhalf performance to sweep the complacent Kiwis aside.
Four years later it didn’t get any better for the All Blacks although this time they were not as cocky and were simply outplayed by a very good Australia side.
The abiding memory I have of that game was of Wallabies skipper
George Gregan standing over a floored Justin Marshall (his opposite number) while gloating: “Four more years! Four more years!” a triumphant reminder to the New Zealanders that they hadn’t won the Webb Ellis Cup since they hosted the first tournament in 1987.
And the All Blacks didn’t win it in 2007, as every South African knows, although that year they perished to France in the quarters, never mind the semis.
Going back to that 2003 semifinal in Australia, the rival coaches that day, Eddie Jones of Australia and John Mitchell of New Zealand, are now a coaching partnership plotting the downfall of Steve Hansen’s All Blacks on Saturday.
Love him, or hate him, Eddie and Mitch are a dream team, tireless in their approach.
I think this particular semi-final is going to be one of those that sticks in the memory regardless of who wins because the reality is this one is fitting of a final, and it cannot be anything but a classic encounter between two brilliantly prepared teams.
On Sunday, the Wales v South Africa semi-final understandably doesn’t have the same luster, probably because neither side has played anywhere near as well as New Zealand and England did in their quarter-final routs of Australia and Ireland respectively.
But this is another game where the teams are very evenly matched and while this game might not rise to the same heights as the first semi, I think it will be just as close.
An aside – I haven’t heard anyone talking of a Wales v England final. I’m definitely going to check the odds ...