South Africa set to pile on points against Namibia
South African players attend a training session at the City of Toyota Stadium on Friday, ahead of their Rugby World Cup Pool B against Namibia. Agence France-Presse
Scorelines of 87-0 last time they met in 2011, and Australia’s record 142-0 shellacking of Namibia in 2003 mean the Springboks can approach the game with confidence bordering on nonchalance.
Coach Rassie Erasmus has even picked hooker Schalk Brits at No 8 in a team that features no fewer than 13 changes from last week’s 23-13 Pool B defeat by New Zealand.
Even Namibia seem to have given up Saturday’s match as a lost cause after switching 10 players from the team that troubled Italy before gallantly going down 47-22 in their opening game.
Defence coach Jacques Nienaber said South Africa had “no point limit in our heads” against their neighbours, the lowest-ranked team in the tournament.
“We are trying to develop our game across the board -- attack, kicking, our mental approach, our work ethic during the week,” said Nienaber.
“So, there is no point limit in our heads. It is not a case of saying if we concede just three points in the game, we will be happy with that, or if we concede 30, we will be disappointed.
“We want to work on the things we lacked against New Zealand and improve in those areas. We want to build our game, improve the skill set of the individual player.”
Namibia have only had the misfortune of playing South Africa twice before: once in Cape Town in 2007, when the Springboks won 105-13, and their 87-0 win at the 2011 World Cup.
Namibia have conceded 50 or more points 11 times in 19 World Cup games, including losing 142-0 against Australia in Adelaide, when the Wallabies ran in 22 tries in the tournament’s widest margin of victory.
Scrum-half Eugene Jantjies, who faced South Africa in both 2007 and 2011, said Namibia would take a physical approach against the two-time world champions.
“The last game we played was not probably the best one,” said Jantjies. “It’s going to be physical because we know each other well, South Africans and Namibians.”
Argentina know their Rugby World Cup rests on a must-win game against Tonga in Osaka on Saturday. Semi-finalists in 2007 and 2015, the Pumas started their Pool C campaign with a heartbreaking 23-21 loss to France.
Argentina were 20-3 behind at the break only to stage a dramatic second-half rally and take a one-point lead, before a drop goal from Camille Lopez condemned them to an agonising defeat.
England, who’ve beaten both Tonga and the United States in their opening two matches, are expected to top Pool C and take one of the two quarter-final places on offer.
That means Argentina realistically require a bonus-point win over the Pacific islanders this weekend if they are to deprive France of the second qualifying spot.
“What pains us is how well we played in one half and how badly in the other, knowing all the time that we are perfectly capable of playing 80 minutes of high-intensity, intelligent and fast rugby,” said Argentina centre Jeronimo de la Fuente.
“We are fully aware of how important the clash with France was, and it hurt to lose. We are fully confident that we will show up against Tonga, and against England and the USA afterwards.”
Argentina coach Mario Ledesma insisted all was not lost for his side.
“We must do what we set out to do,” Ledesma said.
“Against France, we didn’t in the first 40 minutes, so this time we must remain focused and overcome our mistakes. The most dangerous teams are the ones who aren’t afraid to make mistakes.”
Ireland go into this weekend’s clash with hosts Japan without talismanic playmaker Johnny Sexton but they will still expect to overpower the Brave Blossoms and preserve their winning record.
Joe Schmidt’s side, who came into the tournament as the world’s top-ranked team, crushed Scotland 27-3 with a clinical performance in their Pool A opener last weekend.
Japan thrashed Russia 30-10 in last Friday’s World Cup curtain raiser, sparked by a hat-trick from Kotaro Matsushima, one of several lightning Japanese wingers head coach Jamie Joseph calls his fleet of “Ferraris”.
The Brave Blossoms have one way of playing -- fast -- and will look to shift the ball wide to Matsushima and William Tupou as quickly as possible in Shizuoka on Saturday.
Ireland though are banking on their rush defence in midfield to smash those supply lines, just as they did against Scotland when Chris Farrell, Bundee Aki and Garry Ringrose ran riot.
Agence France-Presse
