Notebook

Springboks meet to refocus on World Cup

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Posted: Saturday October 23, 1999 04:53 PM

Nick Mallet has been criticized for playing more "technical" rugby instead of a pressure-type game. David Rogers/Allsport

LONDON (AP) -- The Springboks have had a clear-the-air meeting with coach Nick Mallett in a bid to get their World Cup bid back on track with more entertaining, effective rugby.

"The main thing that came out of the meeting is that players have been given the freedom to try things on their own," South Africa's Saturday The Star newspaper quoted center Pieter Muller as saying.

"Many of the guys felt the pattern did not allow them to express their flair. We now want Joost van der Westhuizen, for instance, to play the game that made him famous. If he wants to have a go at the flanks, then he must do it."

Mallet has been criticized for putting emphasis on "technical" rugby which has changed the simple but effective pressure game, with the forwards driving forward, that saw the Springboks winning the Tri-Nations last year.

Flyhalf Jannie de Beer, looking ahead to Sunday's quarterfinal with England, was quoted as saying: "Our game could not be simpler."

"We have to choke the life out of England. We have to maintain the pressure until they make mistakes or concede penalties. I have a feeling my goal-kicking will have a big role to play."

Get behind us

"My message to our fans is to get behind us and give it all you've got," Townsend said. "It is going to be a cracking game and we will be giving it our absolute all."

Interest in the World Cup in Scotland has been minimal so far, but the atmosphere has been heating up in the runup to Sunday's make-or-break encounter.

Townsend said a victory against the odds will be "a huge boost for Scottish rugby," and that the Scottish players are not even contemplating defeat.

"We are aiming for the week after at Twickenham for the semifinals," he said. "There is absolutely no talk of us going home."

All or nothing

"For me the Haka is laying down the challenge to your opponents," Umaga said on the eve of New Zealand's quarterfinal at Murrayfield against Scotland.

"It shows that we have come to play, that we have come to win and that we'll either win or come off dead. It shows that we are laying our bodies on the line for our country."

"There is a certain myth surrounding the All Blacks," he added. "And it is because any team who plays us knows it is going to be hard. We will never lie down, and for a team to beat us, they have got to play at their absolute peak."

 

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