Meyer: Bring on the World Cup

They may have failed to close out their last two games and the injury list is growing at an alarming state. Yet Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer is adamant that his team is "on track" for the World Cup.

Speaking after their 20-27 loss to world No.1 New Zealand in Johannesburg at the weekend, Meyer said he feels both games could have gone the way of South Africa.

The loss at Ellis Park, when All Black captain Richie McCaw scored a match-winning try in the 73rd minutes, followed after an 80th-minute try handed the Wallabies a win over the Boks in Brisbane the week before.

In the week building up towards the encounter with their arch rivals, New Zealand, Meyer spoke of two key elements – the growing injury list that is depleting his second row stocks and the team's need to start closing out games.

With Lodewyk de Jager having joined the Boks' list of injured locks, after having lost Victor Matfield the week before and Pieter-Steph du Toit having just returned to training after months on the sidelines, Meyer was rather upbeat about the road to the World Cup.

Just two games remain – against Argentina in Durban in a fortnight (the final round of the Rugby Championship) and a pre-World Cup warm-up in Buenos Aires a week later.

Despite the disappointing results of the past two weeks, Meyer is adamant South Africa can beat anyone at the World Cup.

"It is never nice to lose," Meyer said in his post-match media briefing at Ellis Park, adding that both games were lost by "millimetres".

He said two crucial TMO calls – one that awarded the match-winning try to Australia in Brisbane and one that denied the Boks a potentially match-defining try in Johannesburg – could have gone either way.

"The All Blacks and Wallabies know that as well," he said of the calls.

He felt his team has made "great progress" since they got together three weeks ago.

"This team can still improve a lot," the coach said, adding: "We have no control over the TMO calls, but at some stage our luck must change [with regard to these close calls].

"These three teams [South Africa, New Zealand and Australia] are so close now. The difference [in Brisbane] last week was probably two millimetres, where it went against us. In this match [at Ellis Park] the same thing happened.

"I truly believe that if that try would have been awarded, with Lood [De Jager] going over, that would have been the game.

"Also, there was a five-metre scrum, where Heinrich Brüssow went over the line and [it was ruled he] was held up, which was a 50-50 [call].

"We had two chances there and we had to convert one of those, both over the line and one [a] 50-50 [call] – that was the difference."

"The mental strength and attitude of the squad bodes well for the World Cup.

"The guys know they can beat anyone."

Bok captain Schalk Burger said both defeats are hard to stomach.

"Obviously a massive amount of effort [went into the game] and we are obviously doing something right, as we are putting teams under pressure – against the Wallabies [last week] and the same with the All Blacks in this game," Burger told the media scrum at the stadium.

"We are creating a lot of opportunities, as the coach alluded to, but unfortunately we just couldn't put them away.

"We have to learn from this and take it forward, because in the World Cup there are going to be games where we will face a similar situation."

He admitted the All Blacks were simply more clinical.

"They had one chance, five metres from our line, and turned it into seven [match-winning] points."

While Meyer feels the tide will turn and at some stage the calls by match officials will begin to go the way of the Boks, he is even more optimistic about the situation in the line-outs – where the Boks have been outplayed by both the Wallabies and All Blacks.

"We are making progress, but it doesn't help that half the locks in the country are injured," he said when asked about the line-out problems.

"Lood [Lodewyk de Jager, who replaced the injured Victor Matfield] went off and Flip [van der Merwe], who hasn't played with us for a while, came on – it was tough to get momentum."

Meyer said he will "always" look at the positives.

"Pieter-Steph [du Toit] will come back," the coach said, adding: "He could have played 10 to 15 minutes at a push.

"Victor [Matfield] will come back and Lood [de Jager] will also return.

"That will be a huge improvement there.

"The three of them [Eben Etzebeth, De Jager and Du Toit], with RG [Rudolph Snyman] coming through, I truly believe South Africa could have the four best locks in the next four years.

"Eben is back to his best and as a combination the two youngsters [Etzebeth and De Jager] did brilliantly in this match."

Meyer felt that his team is a lot closer to the All Blacks than most pundits would give them credit for.

"I said this week the game will be won or lost in the last 10 minutes," he said, adding: "It didn't help that we flew to Australia and then returned [to South Africa] with the All Blacks.

"I knew the last 10 minutes would be tough.

"I felt that if we could bring the fresh guys [replacements] on in the last 15 minutes it would make a difference.

"The [many] injuries [that saw Francois Louw, Jannie du Plessis, his replacement Vincent Kock and De Jager leave the field] forced our hand and it didn't work out for us in this game.

"However, I see the positives and I felt we played some great rugby – the confidence is there.

"We know we can beat any team and we scored some great tries. It is millimetres away of clicking.

"We will work hard and we'll be ready for the World Cup."

Meyer was also upbeat about his new-look midfield, with regular captain Jean de Villiers set to rejoin the squad ahead of the two-match series against the Pumas.

"No.10 [Handré Pollard], No.12 [Damian de Allende] and No.13 [Jesse Kriel] played against the best centres in the world [Ma'a Nonu and Conrad Smith]. We did superbly there.

"Heinrich [Brüssow] came back and was brilliant.

"All credit to the All Blacks, but this team is on the move."

He said his team's tactical kicking is also improving, while they consciously played a more expansive game.

"I know we put them under pressure and we attacked well. There were one or two bad kicks, but much better than last week."

Meyer said he now has plenty of time to work with the team ahead of the World Cup and those small things that are costing them games can be fixed.

"Maybe it is a good thing people are writing us off, but we are on course.

"The great thing for me is there is now a self-believe."

By Jan de Koning at Ellis Park

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