Townsend's frank assessment of the Boks
REACTION: South Africa and Scotland are set to face off in a pivotal pool match in the opening round of the World Cup, in Marseille on September 10.
Not only will the encounter set the tone for the two Pool B rivals, but will also have a fundamental impact on their tournament prospects.
The two teams both gave notice of their credentials in the final weekend of warm-up fixtures.
Scotland wrapped up their World Cup preparations with a 33-6 victory over Georgia at Murrayfield.
South Africa, the reigning champions, served notice of their intention to win a fourth title by beating arch-rivals New Zealand 35-7 in a warm-up match at Twickenham – the All Blacks’ heaviest defeat of all time.
Scotland coach Gregor Townsend admitted that the Springboks represent a severe obstacle.
“South Africa could have won by another 10 or 20 points,” Townsend said of their win over the All Blacks.
“They had a lot of domination in the first half where they didn’t get points on the board, and then in the second half they were clearly the better team.
“That’s one of the best performances I’ve seen from them over the last few years, and if they play like that against us, we’ll have to bring our best ever game to beat them.”
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* Meanwhile, Townsend expects Darcy Graham to be available for Scotland’s World Cup opener against the Boks.
The 26-year-old was named in the starting XV last Thursday, but subsequently removed from the squad on Friday – after getting injured in training.
That injury raised concerns about his availability for the Scots’ first match of the global showpiece in Marseille in a fortnight.
Asked after the Georgia game if he was confident the talismanic Graham, who has 19 tries for Scotland would be ready to face the Boks, Townsend said: “Yes.
“I don’t want to say that and jinx it, but the indications would be that by the end of this week – potentially Thursday – he’ll be back to full fitness, if not it will be the following week.
“We’re training Tuesday and Thursday this week and then the guys will have Friday and Saturday off so we’re aiming for Thursday for Darcy.
“If he cannot train Thursday, it will be the following Monday in France.”
Scotland scored five tries in the second half as they fought back from 0-6 down to defeat Georgia by a commanding margin.
It was the fourth time in four Tests they had trailed at the break and the third time they had fought back to win.
Although the Scots failed to fire before the break, Townsend was heartened by the way they blew their visitors away after the interval.
“I believe it was probably better for us going six points down because it meant we had to improve certain areas, our fitness would have to come through and it did, and our bench did really well too,” he said.
“They [Georgia] were very good in contact in the first half, and they stopped a lot of our attacks.
“Weirdly, that was a better preparation for us than scoring tries in the first half.”
- Sources: PA & AFP
