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Subscribe to RSS FeedBoks have `easy ride` home
All it takes - Bok flank Juan Smith gives 'the' signal
South African coach Jake White describes it as the 'ideal run' to the final and Australian coach John Connolly agrees that the Springboks have an easy ride to the World Cup grand finale.
Connolly pulled no punches when he said he was putting his money on the Boks to reach the World Cup Final - because they have a favourable draw.
The Wallabies are in the more difficult half of the draw and will have their work cut out for them.
The Boks, in order to reach the final on October 20, must get past minnows Fiji this Saturday and either Argentina or Scotland the following week.
However, in the Aussies' half of the draw are pre-tournament favourites New Zealand, France and England - who the Wallabies play this weekend. The winner of Australia versus England will face the winner of New Zealand versus France in the semi-final a week later.
"Now one side of the pool is heavily weighted, it will be hard path for teams to come through on that side of the draw... three big weeks ahead," Connolly said Wednesday.
The heavily-weighted draw was created because Argentina beat hosts France in the opening match of the tournament and topped their pool, meaning France crossed over to the 'other' half.
"The bottom line is that you've got to win three big games to win it," Connolly said. "If I was having a bet, South Africa would probably get through to the final from that side of the draw."
A please Bok boss White also made no secret of the fact that he felt South Africa had the ideal run to the final - after Fiji upset Wales for a place in the last eight.
"When we took over four years ago, if you had told me that our last three games could be Fiji, Argentina and the World Cup Final, I think anyone in South African rugby would take it," White said.
"I'm not taking away anything from Fiji or Argentina, but the reality is we've never lost to Argentina or Fiji," he added. "All we've got to do is what we've done in the past."
The Bok coach also believes that tough quarter and semi-final matches could take a toll on the New Zealanders, who are still the favourites to win the tournament.
"Many people say New Zealand have not really been tested in this tournament. We'll see how sharp they are against France," said White.
"We played Test matches on five consecutive weekends earlier this year - twice against England and then against Samoa, Australia and the All Blacks. By the fifth week, we were certainly not as sharp as we had been in the first.
"New Zealand play France this weekend and then against Australia or England. It will take a bigger toll than an easier route to the final would do."
In the meantime, White is shaping a combination he thinks will take South Africa to its first World Cup Final since it won, as the host nation, in 1995.
South Africa lost to eventual champions Australia in the 1999 semi-finals at Twickenham and to New Zealand at the quarter-finals stage in 2003.
However, having had two sides in the Super 14 final this season gives White hope that the knockout stages will be less of a burden this time around.
"This group of players, many of them have played in the Super 14 Final, or the Currie Cup Final, or the [International Rugby Board] Under-21 Final, so they understand the pressure of play-offs," he said. "That's a nice place to be."
What will also help White and his players to cope with the next three weeks is that they thrashed England 36-0 in their group match - a game White said they approached as a play-off match.
"They've been through the knockout mentality this year. It was very relevant to us when we played England," White said.
"We were lucky in a sense, during the competition, we had a knockout situation in the middle as well."
