Boks must be 'quick out the blocks'
Tue, 08 Jun 2010 23:23
French fernzy: Bok captain John Smit
South Africa cannot afford another slow start when they come up against France, in the toughest of their mid-year Tests, at Newlands on Saturday.
Bok captain John Smit admitted that his team would need to be quick out the blocks against the Six Nations and Grand Slam winners, in what is likely to be a typically brutal Test.
He admitted that he Boks did well to bounce back from trailing 3-16 after the first quarter against Wales in Cardiff last week - leading 31-19 going into the final 10 minutes, with two late tries inflating the outclassed Welsh team's scoreline.
"It does help that we've been together for a few seasons, with the majority of the guys that are playing big roles that have been together for a while," Smit said.
"At the same time, however, the direction we have taken over the last two or three seasons is an easy one to adopt for a new player coming in."
Smit, however, was adamant that a slow start would not be tolerate this weekend - mainly because of the quality of the Boks' opponents.
"We don't want to take 10 or 20 minutes to get into a Test match. We might be allowed to get away with that against Wales, but I don't think we'll be allowed to get away with that against the French."
The game on Saturday is seen as an opportunity for either side to get a psychological edge over their rivals ahead of next year's World Cup in New Zealand, as the Tri-Nations champions go head-to-head with the champions of the north.
"Any team that has ambitions to lift the [World] Cup in New Zealand will realise that results have a big part to play in terms of how they progress," said the Bok skipper.
"You have to weigh up what the big five nations do in their preparations. Some might mix-and-match their teams, some might see what they've got around in terms of their final team. It will depend of what their approach is to the Test matches.
"You can clearly see from the team sheets [for Newlands] that these two teams are playing the best that they've got - so it will be a big match and certainly one that will help confidence going into next year's World Cup."
The French, who have beaten the Boks in seven of their last nine encounters, appear to be something of a bogey team for South Africa.
However, Smit sees it differently: "It is because they are a pretty good team.
"They are similar to us - pretty strong up front and out wide," the Bok captain said, adding: "There is a reason why they are difficult to play against, it is because they are a champion side."
He dismissed the notion that there's always extra needle and niggle in encounters between Les Bleus and the Boks, saying: "Not more so than any other Test, they are all pretty physical.
"It is one of the cliches before any Boks Test, the other team wants to rock up pretty physically. It is (just) part and parcel of every Test match that we play."
Smit pointed to the set-pieces and the French team's physicality as key areas in Saturday's showdown.
"You can see by the team that they have chosen they want to win this Test match and they have a team that can win on any given Saturday," he said. "We have to show them that respect and make sure that we bring a little bit more."
Smit will reacquaint himself with a few Frenchmen that were his teammates during his brief stint with Clermont Auvergne in the Top 14 just after the 2007 World Cup.
One of them, loosehead prop Thomas Domingo, will play a crucial role in the scrums and Smit continued: "I played for a season with Thomas. He is an up-and-coming loosehead prop that has done really well in the Six Nations.
"We have seen from the results in the semifinals of the Heineken Cup just how much emphasis they place on the set-pieces. We'll face a big challenge this weekend."
The other set-piece, the line-outs, will feature another player familiar to Smit - No.8 Julien Bonnaire.
"The reason they opted for Julien is because Imanol Harinordoquy is not on tour and he is injured," said Smit.
"Those two are probably their two best line-out guys, not just in terms of taking the ball, but also organising line-outs.
"I've had a lot to do with Julian as well [at Clermont Auvergne] and they are pretty good in most facets of play. That is why they get good results."
By Jan de Koning
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