JONATHAN Humphreys, Scotland’s assistant coach, has insisted that next week’s Rugby World Cup match against Samoa had no influence on the team selection for today’s game against South Africa.
Already without Finn Russell and John Hardie because of injury, Scotland have rested other key players for the Pool B match against the Springboks at St James’ Park, leading to suggestions that they had decided the Samoa game was more winnable. But Humphreys believes the team selected for this match can blunt the South African threat and ensure that they qualify for the quarter-finals at the first time of asking.
“Next week will be next week,” he said. “Our sole focus is on this game, and we cannot take our focus off of this game. Right now we have not thought about Samoa. South Africa are an unbelievable threat to us and we want to get the job done.”
Scotland are top of the pool with a maximum ten points from their first two games, and will definitely go through to the last eight if they win with a bonus point today. A simple four-point win either today or next Saturday against the Samoans is also likely to be enough.
While one win out of their remaining two games would do for Scotland, South Africa cannot afford another defeat after losing their opening game against Japan. They bounced back a week ago with a solid win over Samoa, but Humphreys argued that they are still under pressure - and will start to feel it all the more if Scotland get off to a good start today.
“I don’t think losing games in the World Cup is a blessing for anybody,” he said when asked if the loss to Japan had in a way helped the Springboks. “It just creates more pressure - if you’ve lost your first game, then every game is a knockout game for you. If things don’t go your way, if you’re not getting your way in that game, the more pressure mounts.
“So certainly I don’t think it’s a blessing in disguise. But it has forced them back to what they do best. It’s up to teams to try to counter that.”
Asked whether he thought Scotland had chosen a weakened line-up, Springboks forward Duane Vermeulen have a clear indication that his team were solely concerned with rediscovering their best form in the belief that they would then play well enough to get the better of any opponent. “I don’t really care about opponents,” the No 8 said. “I haven’t really checked. The most important thing is going back to basics.”
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