Running the rule Greenwood fancies Boks at Japan RWC
● “New Zealand, SA, England, Wales.” Will Greenwood was so confident and committed to brevity in his reply, he didn’t say “and”.
The assertively opinionated former Rugby World Cup (RWC) winning centre has things pretty much worked out until the semifinals.
“New Zealand and SA will get out of their pool. They’ll meet Scotland and Ireland and they’ll win both their quarterfinals,” he declared confidently.
“England, Australia, Wales and France will get out of their pools. England will beat Australia, and Wales will beat France. That leaves New Zealand playing England and SA playing Wales.
“Six months ago I was confident one northern hemisphere team would make the final. I
Two or three years ago, you couldn’t see any strategy or character,” but that the introduction of players from abroad helped the Boks turn the corner
still am but I’m not sure which one,” Greenwood said speaking, on behalf of Land Rover, official worldwide partner of RWC 2019.
The Springboks have made slow progress up that ladder but they haven’t gone unnoticed. He says: “Two or three years ago, you couldn’t see any strategy or character,” but that the introduction of carefully identified players from abroad helped the Boks turn the corner.
“Along with that, you create a simple game plan, and I have to say, an extreme amount of hard work goes into making something look simple. You put the components together and ask ‘what makes a great team?’
“A massive scrum and a great lineout, tick. The ability to offload in the tackle, which didn’t used to be a tick, now a tick.
“A defensive system that scares the living daylights out of people, tick. Having extreme speed, tick.
“Having playmakers who under pressure can make the right decisions, tick. Having a ferocious backrow that can scavenge, tick.
“You suddenly go around ticking all these boxes and SA are right up there,” Greenwood said excitably.
“You have the power of (Frans) Malherbe and the offloading of (Steven) Kitshoff.
“There is a balance in the front row. Whether you pick (RG) Snyman or (Franco) Mostert with (Eben) Etzebeth.
“Mostert has been a revelation for Gloucester and he has been unbelievable for you in the Championship. Off the charts. He’s got the energy of an Olympic middle distance runner. You think, ‘that cannot be Mostert making that tackle there’. Then Snyman comes off the bench and reinforces that.
“I just love Duane Vermeulen as a player. You’ve got (Faf) de Klerk and (Handre) Pollard and you’ve discovered Herschel Jantjies.
“(Damian) de Allende at 12 will take anyone on and you’ve got different combinations to play around him. Suddenly the SA team is rolling off my tongue.”
He does however harbour some reservations about the Boks. Compared to the other potential semifinalists the Boks are still in a relatively early stage in their development.
“How much IP you’ve got in the locker? A lot of those players have been around and they have a lot of caps.
One thing you know about winning the RWC is that you are two, maybe three times going to be under the pump and have to find a way of winning a match where things aren’t going your way.
“That’s why you have stats like the number of caps or the number of games the halfbacks have played together to be able to be truly confident of not blinking first.
“There is no doubt that that will count. “It’s almost like the frozen wasteland, the tundra, which has two to three inches of permafrost at the top. How thick is your permafrost?”