Blogs

Match Preview: South Africa vs Namibia

Thursday, 26 September 2019

Stefan Terblanche

"Let`s all take a long ,deep and soothing breath of fresh air and let`s look ahead of what needs to be done for South Africa to bring the William Webb Ellis back to our country for the third time since 1995."

Let`s all take a long ,deep and soothing breath of fresh air and let`s look ahead of what needs to be done for South Africa to bring the William Webb Ellis back to our country for the third time since 1995.

A lot`s been said over the last few days about the referee and even World Rugby, the governing body worldwide of the game released a statement in which they stated that the referees performances during the opening round of the Rugby World Cup were below par and I quote.

“Following the usual review of matches, the match officials team recognise that performances over the opening weekend of Rugby World Cup 2019 were not consistently of the standards set by World Rugby and themselves”

There are always certain elements on a rugby field, players can control to the best of their ability and preparation and the off course there are certain elements players have absolutely no control over- the bounce of the oval ball and the weather.

The referee falls within a category that is really hard to classify when it comes to how much control players and especially the captain of a team have over. Knowing the referee and how much they allow on the field is crucial in the preparation for any test and even more so come Rugby World Cup. We had to mention the referee and some of his questionable decisions during our opening game of Rugby World Cup against the world champion All Blacks as we now look forward to playing our neighbours, Namibia.

World Cup Rugby is all about winning 7 games in a row, or is it? One thing is for sure and that is the fact that every single game is now a knock out fixtures for South Africa-it`s simple and if you Lose you are out.

Without being arrogant and with the utmost respect to our neighbours, The Boks should have no issue winning and winning comfortably against Namibia. We have seen a good few changes and rightly so as all payers will get some game time during the campaign but it will also keep them sharp and match fit should any players suffer any injury during the pool stages.

Namibia will improve their game as it`s not even a written rule but a given that on any matchday when you play against a team ranked so much higher than yourself, you will raise your game by at least 20%. That’s the beauty about the game of rugby and should Namibia lose by 50 points on Saturday they could and I have no doubt they would have given a very good account of themselves. My prediction is that South Africa will be too strong and by 43-50 points.

The importance about this game for South Africa is way more than just a big winning margin. It is about winning and winning well with a very structured approach while creating opportunities and playing what`s in front of you on the rugby field. Good players will play the same whether they are in the own half of the field or on the opposition try line should opportunities present itself.

I again look forward to the game but I am more interested in how the team will bounce back after a very disappointing loss in the opening round.