England’s pace can blow the Boks away
England should not underestimate South africa — despite yesterday’s second semi-final not being the most spectacular of matches.
They have some very high-quality players, areas of real strength and their entire squad will be lifted and energised by the prospect of a final.
The Boks’ set-piece will be the strongest England will have faced at this World Cup and off the back of that, everything goes through Faf de Klerk at scrum-half, who is their conductor-in-chief.
He likes the box kick — does he ever — but from his performances at Sale, we know he has another dimension up his sleeve. Watching club colleague Tom Curry mark de Klerk will be fascinating and he will be very alert to his sniping breaks which he kept under wraps yesterday.
The Boks also have try-scoring potential out wide. Their back three have some gas and we wait to hear if there is any chance of key man Cheslin Kolbe returning from injury for the final.
But to my eyes their big weakness is a lack of creativity in midfield. damian de allende is a strong runner — he battered his way through impressively yesterday for his try — but England have already shown they can cut down strong runners all day long. England can absorb that approach easily and turn such players over at will.
The other huge takeaway is that England are capable of playing at a pace and tempo that could completely take the final away from South africa.
If they can replicate the intensity and precision that they displayed against new Zealand then I am struggling to see how South africa can match such an approach. It’s a million miles away from their natural game.
I would emphasise again though that it will be a major challenge for Eddie Jones’s team to climb that Everest again just a week after the greatest ever England performance.
England’s preparation this week is all about getting that mental mindset right again. I was encouraged by their desire to ‘park’ the win over new Zealand quickly on Saturday.
Before the Wales game yesterday, I was chatting with Richie McCaw, who was hugely complimentary about England, but he made the very pertinent point about ‘going again’ after an outstanding semi-final win.
In 2011 his new Zealand side were excellent in putting a good aussie team away in their semifinal but seven days later they barely struggled over the line against a French team who had scraped past 14-man Wales in their semi-final. Backing up is unquestionably the key for England.
It was the same in 2003. In the England camp we enjoyed one of our most impressive ever performances in the semi-final when we dispatched France with consummate ease but a week later back at the same ground we found life much more difficult against a pumped-up australia side.
as for Wales it was so near yet so far again. They gave it everything and when they started to play much better after the break and levelled the score at 16-16 I was utterly convinced they were going to pull off one of their trademark late wins.
The key moment for me was not the rather sloppy penalty they gave away for Handre Pollard to nudge over but a few minutes earlier when Rhys Patchell rather rushed a drop-goal attempt.
It was on, it was exactly the right call, and I know he has the reputation of striking a great long ball but he still needed to demand another ten yards, two or three phases, from his pack. Patchell is a very fine player and will learn the lesson.
I felt for head coach Warren gatland just as I felt for new Zealand’s Steve Hansen on Saturday night but their World Cup is not quite done.
The play-off match for third place is tricky — there have been a few duds over the years — but occasionally they spark up as was the case with France and argentina in 2007.
given that both Warren and
Steve are signing off from their roles on Friday night, and given that there is no such thing as a meaningless ‘friendly’ between Wales and new Zealand, we might yet be in for a treat.
If any game can rise above the gloom that sometimes surrounds these play-off matches, it will be a spirited encounter between two of the proudest rugby nations on the planet.
I am confident Friday’s game will be a true celebration of rugby that fans of all nations will enjoy and that would be in keeping with the whole atmosphere of this memorable World Cup.