Sunday, 3rd June 2007 at 10:24 pm

Boks move one step closer

You’d have got healthy odds indeed on England been ahead at half-time at Loftus on Saturday, 40 minutes of rugby that saw a spoiling England thwart the expected South African demolition. But Brian Ashton’s side wilted visibly in the second half, and some outrageous solo performances from several of the Springboks produced a second successive half-century, and a little more for Jake White to ponder en route to France.

The Pierre Spies Show will have gone a long way to securing his place as starting number eight at the World Cup, but he’s a raw talent with little experience in northern hemisphere conditions, and an unhealthy association with intercept tries. Danie Rossouw, Bob Skinstad, AJ Venter and Joe van Niekerk all come into the equation, and the Samoa Test should give at least two of those four some game time.

An anonymous afternoon for Wynand Olivier prompts a retrospective glance in the direction of Waylon Murray, outstanding throughout the Super 14, and a natural back-up to Jacque Fourie. Murray, like team-mate JP Pietersen, should also get a run against Samoa, but it would have great to see him charging powerfully at the England midfield in tandem with Jean de Villiers.

And then there’s Butch James. It’s probably too late to look seriously at Frans Steyn at ten for the World Cup, and Andre Pretorius appears capable of pulling a muscle getting out of bed, so James would appear all but certain to man the helm in France. Tough tackling, physical, and largely rid of the invisible straight jacket that used to mark his defennsive approach (although was the occasional no-arms glimpse on Loftus), and vested of better distribution than he’s often given credit for, James is a more than reasonable option, but if there’s one option where South Africa still doesn’t look entirely convincing, it’s at flyhalf.

Elsewhere, however, all looks promising, although the ragged first half suggested that a more dedicated fetcher amongst the loose trio could be required, England spoiling ball very capably, in the manner Richie McCaw will for New Zealand. The tight five looked formidable, the back three equally so (Habana’s brilliant second try making up for the yellow card, which finally caught up with him after he somehow dodged it in the opening minutes of the Super 14 final), and with Fourie, Os du Randt and Fourie du Preez all waiting to return, there’s a strong squad of players at Jake’s disposal.

But while the first half was competitive, it wasn’t a genuine contest by the end, and with Samoa also set to provide a challenge that will be extremely physical but otherwise limited, the real rugby will get going once the Tri-Nations begins. So far, so good for the Boks, but they’ll be the first to admit that there’s still work to be done.