BlitzBoks banking on momentum
The BlitzBoks started their two-day campaign with a less than impressive 26-5 win over Zimbabwe, before losing 12-14 to Kenya in their second Pool B match.
They needed to beat England in their final game and they did just that, a hard-fought 10-0 win.
Powell is banking on the character his players showed in that game against the Poms to be the catalyst for them to go all the way on Sunday, which starts with a Cup quarterfinal against Australia.
"They can take a lot of stock from this last game, especially in defence," said Powell.
"They really did well and the scrambled well. Hopefully they will take the momentum and confidence from this one. Let's hope it is a better day tomorrow [Sunday]."
If the BlitzBoks are to have a better day on Sunday then they will need to make sure they do the basics right – something did not do in all three of their pool games on Saturday.
"There was a lot of basic errors that we made in catching and passing and if you are not going to get the basics right, then you are never going to win a game, especially not against a quality team like Kenya.
"If you don't use your opportunities then they will use theirs and then you are in trouble.
"You get frustrated because the guys are getting the basics wrong. Even in this first half against England we had one or two opportunities where we lost the ball when we had an overlap on the outside.
"We were lucky we got through this one and hopefully it will go better tomorrow," Powell added.
Meanwhile, Francois Hougaard said the win against England was a big confidence booster for the players.
"We needed a win like that – we needed to win to go through. It wasn't a pretty win, but for confidence it meant a lot. There is a lot we can take out of those games.
"There was a lot of mistakes, a lot of unforced errors.
"We had a lot of opportunities and we could not turn them into points, but tomorrow is a new day," said Hougaard.
By Warren Fortune
@FortuneWarren
@rugby365com
