As Simon Thomas, rugby correspondent of the Western Mail in Wales got on the shuttle bus heading out of Twickenham after we had watched the battle for Pool A supremacy between Wales and Australia thoughts turned to the quarter-finals and he was keen to discuss how South Africa were performing.
A couple of minutes chat led to the easiest of conclusions. The Springboks were doing things the Springbok way. They will come at you with everything they have in terms of physicality with little in the way of subtlety and a clear message that opponents know what they are going to do but have to come up with ways of handling it.
The decision of Heyneke Meyer, their head coach, once again to name his side earlier than required for the semi-final meeting with the All Blacks only seemed to reinforce that view, not least when it is an unchanged starting XV from the side that ultimately out-lasted a Wales that did have the courage to stand up to his side and ironically was ultimately undone by a rare exhibition of subtle skill.
The subliminal message was surely that they have nothing to hide, are happy for the All Blacks to do as much analysis as they like, they are backing themselves to impose their game on what Meyer has also said he believes to be the best team ever to have played the game.
His own players can meanwhile draw confidence from the consistency of selection which, as play-maker Handre Pollard observed, is unusual for them, perhaps not least because of the damage they invariably do to themselves with their brutally direct approach.
“It’s not that common for us to pick the same XV but we get to know each other better as well as the strengths and weaknesses and we’ll adjust accordingly,” he said.
“It’s nice to play with same guys week in, week out and you feel so much more comfortable defensively, and attacking-wise the shape will be there.”
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