South Africa are a better side than when they won the World Cup four years ago according to Fiji captain Deacon Manu.
Fiji skipper believes South Africa even better than four years ago
South Africa are an even better side than when they lifted the World Cup four years ago according to Fiji captain Deacon Manu.
Speaking in the wake of his side's 49-3 demolition at the hands of the Springboks on Saturday, Manu described the defending champions as the team to beat at the tournament.
"It was a fantastic Springbok side. In my opinion it's a better side than four years ago," said the Scarlets prop .
"A lot of them who played have already won the World Cup. It was a difficult game and South Africa showed why they are world champions.
"They played with intensity for 80 minutes and it was a difficult old time for us. They're going to be one of the teams to beat, if not the team to beat this year.
"South Africa were there and really played. They were using their tactics accordingly. They were firing on all cylinders today and were hard to combat."
Breakthrough
Peter de Villiers' men looked a different side to the one that scraped a 17-16 win over Wales in their World Cup opener last week.
The Boks made clear their intention to nullify Fiji's attacking game from the outset and, after extinguishing a fiery start by the Pacific Islanders, ran in six tries to take a firm hold of Pool D.
Skipper John Smit described South Africa's performance as a step in the right direction and said he was had been impressed with his side's discipline.
"It was a better performance," he said. "It was a game we really wanted to do well in. It's not a breakthrough, but a step in the right direction. We needed to improve from last week."
"It was good to get our plan in place and to be able to execute well against a team that was willing to play rugby
"The first 20 minutes, in fact the first half was pretty brutal. They certainly came out there on a mission. I'm happy with the way the boys stuck to it.
Hard lessons
"It was good to see how the boys matched fire with fire and were pretty accurate. The decision-making was good and it was a step in the right direction."
As for Fiji, Manu said his side needed to put the defeat behind them quickly and turn their attention to their showdown with Samoa on September 25.
"We have to make sure we learn from this defeat," the New Zealand-born Scarlets prop said. "There's some hard lessons to be learned.
"A week is a long, long time in rugby. We've got to make sure we put this loss behind us."
Fiji coach Samu Domoni added; "We asked a lot of questions but we just didn't capitalise. Those tries that went the other way certainly put a dent in our side."
"We have all done our research and now we're looking forward to a physical encounter next week."
