Boks banking on 'big game players'
South Africa's battling 23-19 quarterfinal win over Wales in London at the weekend has left two key players fighting to be fit for the semifinal with New Zealand at Twickenham next Saturday.
During the Wales match hooker Bismarck du Plessis' hand was accidentally stamped on by teammate Francois Louw, while second row forward Lodewyk de Jager has a foot injury.
No one has made more tackles at the World Cup than de Jager (60) and he has formed an intimidating second row partnership with Eben Etzebeth since the Springboks lost Victor Matfield to injury.
"Lood [de Jager] has injured a tendon in his foot so we need to give him some time to see how that settles and we will make a decision later in the week on his availability for the All Blacks game," team doctor Craig Roberts said at a media briefing.
"Bismarck has a nasty laceration to his right hand.
"Flouw [Louw] accidentally stood on his hand, luckily no fracture, but it is a bit sore and swollen for him so we will keep an eye on him throughout the week."
The 38-year-old Matfield, who injured a hamstring in the 46-6 win over Samoa in South Africa's second pool match, is still recuperating and not regarded as fit enough to resume playing yet.
"Victor [Matfield] has been doing really well with his rehab, [but] when you're older it takes a lot longer for you to recover. He has been working really hard and progressing nicely but will have to see nearer the end of the week," said Roberts.
Louw believes the Springboks have enough strength in depth to cope should Du Plessis and De Jager not regain full fitness.
"They are both immense players," said Louw.
"Lood presents himself massively on the field in our defence, he will be a big loss should it go that way, and so will Bismarck.
"It is a concern but the Springboks have a lot of depth and that's vital in a World Cup. Adriaan [Strauss], and Pieter-Steph Du Toit can really enter the team should Victor not be ready. We have the players to cover if necessary."
The Boks will certainly need all their big game players to fire against a rampant All Black side at Twickenham on Saturday.
Two of those 'big game players' – scrumhalf Fourie du Preez and Duane Vermeulen combined to produce the match-winning moment against Wales.
Du Preez, speaking to the media, said the encounter with the Welsh felt similar to their 2011 World Cup encounter with Wales and also the 2011 World Cup quarterfinal, which they lost through a late penalty.
"Their rush defence put us under pressure," Du Preez said, adding: "At about the 60-minute mark I could see there's a few of their guys lying down and they were slowing the game down.
"I felt they were off their feet and we had a lot of gas left. We just needed to keep on pushing and we would pull it through."
Asked about the match-winning try, a move devised by the Bok veteran in the week leading up to the Twickenham encounter, Du Preez explained that during the week (while doing video analysis) they saw the Welsh scrumhalf was defending behind the scrum.
"We decided I will dummy to the right, Duane will go round the flank and run into the wing.
"They didn't think he would give a back-flip pass.
"All credit to Duane it was an unbelievable pass – to give it at that stage of the game just shows what a big-match player he is."
* How the Proteas celebrate a Bok try!
So when the @Springboks score a try, or any points for that matter, the Proteas get pretty excited pic.twitter.com/QnKlIctjfg
— AB de Villiers (@ABdeVilliers17) October 18, 2015
