Boks wary of Samoan tactics
The decision by Samoa to ditch their trademark free-flowing style and adopt a more structured game plan is giving South Africa’s brains trust a few sleepless nights.
The two sides go head-to-head in a Pool D encounter at the North Harbour Stadium in Albany on Friday.
Springboks backs coach Dick Muir admitted the change in approach from the Pacific Islanders is a cause for concern.
However, he felt they would be “foolish” to change that policy ahead of Friday’s showdown.
“They’ve obviously been together for a long time as a team and you’ve seen the progress,” he told a media gathering in Taupo on Wednesday.
“They’re a side that are really playing good rugby and they’ve got a lot more structure to their game.
“We’d like to starve them of possession.
“They’ve got big, strong ball-runners so we’ll have to chop their legs and get them to ground as quickly as we can.”
One of those big, powerful runners is Alesana Tuilagi, a player with which Muir is very familiar.
Tuilagi played a warm-up match for Super Rugby side the Sharks four years ago.
Muir was head coach of the Sharks in 2007 when he invited Tuilagi to trial for the Durban-based franchise.
“We had an arrangement where I had him on loan,” Muir said.
“England pulled out a whole lot of players from [English side] Leicester so he then had to go back, which was unfortunate for us.
“Interestingly enough, none of the jerseys fitted him.
“We had to get a supporter’s jersey especially for him to wear in that game.
“He’s a big man.”
Muir is now plotting against Tuilagi – nicknamed the Samoan Bulldozer – and the 121kg flyer’s teammates.
Asked whether he had a specific plan to combat the power and pace of Tuilagi, Muir joked: “We haven’t got a sniper!
“He’s shown his class all over the world and he seems to just be getting better and better. We need to keep him at bay. We have got a plan.”
The Springboks are viewing the match against Samoa, coming off a bruising 27-7 win over Fiji in Auckland on Sunday, as sudden death.
“Look, there’s only one side that’s definitely through to the play-offs and that’s the All Blacks,” Muir pointed out.
“For us it’s still knockout.
“If we don’t get the result then we don’t make it.”
The defending champions, South Africa, need at least one point to set up a likely quarterfinal against Australia, while Samoa must upset the Springboks with a bonus point to advance.
RNS
