South Africa vs Samoa: Rugby World Cup Preview
The first round of the Rugby World Cup 2011 is heading towards a happy end as most of the sides are playing their last Pool matches this week. South Africa and Samoa who will stand toe-to-toe in their final group match on September 30 in North Harbour Stadium,
Auckland, in what promises to be a great clash.
South Africa, globally known as the Springboks, is the defending champion of Webb Ellis Trophy and have played a neat tournament despite a few injury problems. It will be an interesting contest when they take on Samoa, who has converted themselves into a
much respected side with the passage of time. They registered a historical win over the Wallabies just weeks before the start of global showpiece.
Samoa has also played reasonably well in the so far played matches and made the world recognize them as a competitive. As far as the past history of both countries is concerned, it is South Africa who has carried the day in every meeting. The sides have
collided on six occassions before this much anticipated match and the Boks managed to clinch the victory with a handsome margin every time.
The last time the sides clashed in Rugby World Cup 2007, the Springboks thumped the underdog Samoans by a huge margin of 59-7. The best performance of Samoa against the Boks was seen in 2002 when they received a loss at a lower margin of 42-14 in Pretoria.
It is a must win match for Samoa in order to make it into the quarter-final stages, whereas South Africa has very little risk involved. South Africa needs just one point to secure a next round berth. Samoa has secured 10 points after three outings in the
tournament.
Despite having all advantages over Samoa, Springboks are well aware of the unpredictability of the Islanders. Springboks coach, Peter de Villiers, is also impressed with the way the Samoan players have been performing in the ongoing global tournament. He
told the media about the quality of Samoa and said that, “The one thing that stood out in that game was how good Samoa were at scrum time. They annihilated the Fiji scrums. So that's a bit of bother for us.”
South Africa has got experienced players like Victor Matfield, Du Plessis, Jaque Fourie and Schalk Burger who could really produce a good victory for their side. Meanwhile, Samoa has got a young talented side along with David Lemi, Mahonri Schwalger and
Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu.
Team for match day:
Samoa: 15 Paul Williams, 14 David Lemi, 13 Seilala Mapusua, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 George Stowers, 7 Maurie Faasavalu, 6 Taiasina Tuifua, 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Daniel Leo, 3 Census Johnston,
2 Mahonri Schwalger (c), 1 Sakaria Taulafo.
Replacements: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Anthony Perenise, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Ofisa Treviranus, 20 Filipo Lavea Levi, 21 Junior Poluleuligaga, 22 George Pisi.
South Africa: 15 Pat Lambie, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Fourie Du Preez, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Victor Matfield (c), 4 Danie Rossouw, 3 Jannie Du Plessis,
2 Bismarck Du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 John Smit, 17 Gurthrö Steenkamp, 18 CJ van der Linde, 19 Willem Alberts, 20 Francois Louw, 21 Francois Hougaard, 22 Jean De Villiers.
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