Fourie keen to 'knock them back'
Thu, 10 Jun 2010 00:32
Down and out: Jaque Fourie faces four weeks on the sidelines
Star Springbok outside centre Jaque Fourie has put his French rivals on notice ahead of Saturday's one-off Test at Newlands.
The 27-year-old, who will be partnered in the Bok midfield by Wynand Olivier and not his regular ally Jean de Villiers (who is on the bench), pinpointed to defence as one of the key facets of the game.
Even in the absence of the burly Mathieu Bastareaud, who missed the trip to South Africa because of injury, the French centres still pose a major threat - according to Fourie.
"He [Bastareaud] can be glad he's not playing," quipped Fourie to a chorus of laughter from the media gathering at the team's hotel in Cape Town.
However, he was quick to point out that Bastareaud's replacement at No.13, David Marty, was "just as good".
"We have done our home-work and we know what we have to do," the 55-cap veteran said, adding: "At the end of he day it is up to us to go out there and implement our gameplan."
Part of that gameplan is to ensure the French midfielders do not get over the advantage line.
"They use their No.12 and No.13 to get go-forward in the midfield and that is how want to get into the game, how they get their forwards into the game," Fourie said.
"If we can stop that early and put them on the backfoot, force them to retreat, that will be a huge part of the game."
With South African having won only one of their last seven encounters against France, including a 26-36 defeat in Cape Town in 2006, Fourie is well aware that the tourists have improved in most aspects of their game - most notably their kicking and running games.
"If we are not mentally and physically up to it on the day, we could be in trouble," said Fourie, "they have proved that they can beat any side."
He also felt that a win on Saturday would be a huge psychological victory ahead of next year's World Cup in New Zealand. "If we can mentally get one up on them this year, that will be a plus for us as well.
"At the end of last year we struggled a bit against them," he said of the 13-20 defeat in Toulouse, adding: "And if we want to win the World Cup these are the teams we have to beat."
There is certainly no lack of confidence in the Bok squad, the Men in Green having fought back from 3-16 down against Wales last week, outplaying them to grab a 31-19 lead - a scoreline which effectively ended the game as a contest, despite a late rally from Wales.
Fourie feels much of that self-confidence comes from the fact that South Africa had two teams, the Bulls and Stormers, in the Super 14 Final.
"The guys that performed throughout the Super 14 are the guys that are in the [Bok] team," he said.
"Yes, we did struggle a bit in the first 20 minutes in Cardiff, but once we got into out stride, we got our gameplan functioning. That's when the things - the things we've been doing for four, five years now - started to work for us (again).
"If we can get into our stride early in the game, keep our structure and keep the ball, then it becomes a long day for the opposition."
By Jan de Koning