Boks assistant looking for improvement

by Thomas Rooney South Africa assistant coach Dick Muir has claimed that there is no chance that the World Champions will be taking Samoa lightly tomorrow when the two teams meet in their latest World Cup match.

South Africa are on course to progress to the quarter-finals, but they could still be eliminated if results don’t go their way, so Muir wants the team to improve on recent performance and avoid any complacency against the Samoans.

He said: “We are looking for constant improvement, there are lots of areas in our game which we are still not happy with.”

“We are always looking for that ultimate game, but overall we are looking for improvement in quite a few areas. This is really an important game for us, so you could see it as a knockout game.”

The Springboks were run very close by Wales in their opening game of course and this will have acted as a warning for the capabilities of the so called lesser teams in this tournament.

Since the 17-16 victory over Wales, South Africa have defeated Fiji 49-3 and Namibia 87-0, so they have certainly been racking up the points. 136 points in two games tells its own story and they will no doubt go into tomorrow’s match looking to significantly add to this tally.

Those looking at mobile betting sites will know that it won’t be easy though. Samoa may have lost to Wales, but they defeated Namibia and Fiji comfortably and will be desperate to show what they can do against the South Africans.

One man aware of what the Samoans can do is Bryan Habana. He scored four tries against them on route to World Cup glory in 2007 and believes they are extremely tough opponents.

Referring to the match four years ago, the winger said: “Those first 20 minutes against Samoa was some of the toughest Test match rugby I have ever played.”

“It is pretty tough and tomorrow is going to be no different. Rugby is not a contact sport, it is a collision sport and you brace yourself for those collisions. It is going to be a tough one, and one we are all looking forward to.”

It certainly should be an entertaining match to watch. Don’t take your eyes off it!