JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, September 8 (Reuters) — The South African rugby squad continued their World Cup preparations in Johannesburg on Monday (September 7), four days before they depart for England.
South Africa will rely on players who have seen it all before as they bid to become the most successful nation in rugby World Cup history at this year’s tournament.
Coach Heyneke Meyer has included nine players from the Springboks’ winning squad of 2007 as he trumpets the need for calm heads in the pressure moments that are sure to come, particulalry in the closing stages of the tournament, when the margin between success and failure can be millimetres.
Criticised in some quarters at home for a lack of transformation in the national team, Meyer has included nine black players in his squad, the most of any South African side going to a World Cup.
But Springboks number eight Duane Vermeulen said that the team’s main focus was to win the World Cup.
“Our main focus is to go out and win this World Cup that’s definitely what we want to do. So, there has been a lot of hard work put in behind the scenes by the coaches, by the medical staff with some of the injured guys coming back into the squad. There has been a lot of stuff said in the media and so on, but we just want to keep our focus on what we really want to do and let’s go out and win this World Cup and represent our country,” Vermeulen said at a training session on Monday.
Captain Jean de Villiers must still recover from a fractured jaw, scrumhalf Fourie du Preez has not played international rugby at all this year and 38-year-old lock Victor Matfield has also had his share of time on the sidelines.
That has been the major theme for the side in the build-up to the World Cup. The likes Vermeulen, loose forwards Willem Alberts and Francois Louw, lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, flyhalf Pat Lambie and wing JP Pietersen have all spent considerable time out in 2015.
At full strength, the two-time champions will be a formidable force with a heavy pack to provide muscle and plenty of options at the lineout.
South Africa have been drawn in Pool B at the World Cup alongside Japan, Samoa, Scotland and the United States and Vermeulen thinks the tournament is wide open.
“This World Cup is really open to anyone, it is not just the guys that put down the mark earlier on in the knock out phases you know. I think there are a couple of the Northern hemisphere teams that played really good rugby in the Six Nations, I think there is a couple of internationals that have just gone by. You know I think it is really open to a lot of guys and you can’t really pick a favourite.”
South Africa will play Japan in their opening World Cup match in Brighton on September 19.
