Beating Fiji not rocket science

MARSEILLE – South Africa coach Jake White said that hatching a victory over Fiji in the rugby World Cup quarter-final on Sunday was not “rocket science”.

Possession of the ball in contact against Fiji, an area where South Africa suffered in their narrow 30-25 pool victory over Tonga, was essential, said White. “The two biggest threats from Fiji are that they are sevens exponents, they can step and break tackles, and one-on-one they can beat most people,” he said.”They probably also have a huge amount of confidence.So when you play a team like that it’s always going to be difficult.But it’s not rocket science, we’ve got to make sure we stick to what we do well.”White said the Boks were prepared for Fiji’s offensive defence, looking to turn over ball away from the set piece to free up their dangerous backline.”They give you first phase possession, and attack second and third phase and try and get some turnover ball and then they can use their athletes out wide.”It’s quite simple, you can get first phase.We back ourselves at line-out time and scrum time.The secret is to hold onto the ball.We can’t be turning it over and giving it to them in open play.”It’ll be a case of making sure you keep the ball in the tackle.That’s where Tonga came back at us.”White said Fiji were “more athletic in their backs” than the Boks’ pool rivals Samoa and Tonga, whom he said were more structured.”Tonga are the forwards, Samoa the tacklers and Fiji are the runners,” was White’s summary of the three Pacific Island teams at the 20-nation World Cup.”We probably had the toughest pool out of everybody in terms of physicality.We had Samoa, England, Tonga, (and now) Fiji.You couldn’t ask for too many teams more direct, more abrasive than those teams.”We’ve been fortunate to get through it.”I’m 100 percent happy of where we are.We had a chargedown against England.Otherwise we would have had 20 out of 20 points.What more could I have asked for? “We got a bonus point in every game except England, and we literally had a six on one and lost the opportunity to finish it off.”And we had to play some really good games to get to that.”White said that Fiji would suffer from the loss through injury of playmaker Nicky Little, instrumental in his side’s shock 38-34 pool win over Wales.”To lose your fly-half in the last move of the game going into the quarter-final cannot be a settling thing,” he said.”Look at what happened when we played England.They lost Olly Barkley and Jonny Wilkinson” and South Africa went on to win 36-0.”It really has an impact on your game when you lose your No 10.”But White added that Fiji were unlikely to change their gameplan in light of Little’s enforced absence.”They’ll still try to keep the ball in hand and move it from side to side and using their pace out wide.* Meanwhile, thousands of Tongans took to the streets of their capital city, Nuku’alofa, on Wednesday to welcome home their national team from its Rugby World Cup campaign.Reigning monarch King George V greeted players and management at his official residence after they had driven from the airport along streets thronged by supporters clad in red, the national colour.Players paraded through city streets in a float parade watched by thousands of dancing and cheering supporters and Prime Minister Feleti Sevele later hosted the team at a formal government reception.Tonga won two of its four pool matches at the World Cup in France, beating the United States and Samoa and losing narrowly to world powers South Africa and England.The team had never previously won two matches at one World Cup and it came close to joining Pacific neighbours Fiji in the tournament quarterfinals.Nampa-AFP”The two biggest threats from Fiji are that they are sevens exponents, they can step and break tackles, and one-on-one they can beat most people,” he said.”They probably also have a huge amount of confidence.So when you play a team like that it’s always going to be difficult.But it’s not rocket science, we’ve got to make sure we stick to what we do well.”White said the Boks were prepared for Fiji’s offensive defence, looking to turn over ball away from the set piece to free up their dangerous backline.”They give you first phase possession, and attack second and third phase and try and get some turnover ball and then they can use their athletes out wide.”It’s quite simple, you can get first phase.We back ourselves at line-out time and scrum time.The secret is to hold onto the ball.We can’t be turning it over and giving it to them in open play.”It’ll be a case of making sure you keep the ball in the tackle.That’s where Tonga came back at us.”White said Fiji were “more athletic in their backs” than the Boks’ pool rivals Samoa and Tonga, whom he said were more structured.”Tonga are the forwards, Samoa the tacklers and Fiji are the runners,” was White’s summary of the three Pacific Island teams at the 20-nation World Cup.”We probably had the toughest pool out of everybody in terms of physicality.We had Samoa, England, Tonga, (and now) Fiji.You couldn’t ask for too many teams more direct, more abrasive than those teams.”We’ve been fortunate to get through it.”I’m 100 percent happy of where we are.We had a chargedown against England.Otherwise we would have had 20 out of 20 points.What more could I have asked for? “We got a bonus point in every game except England, and we literally had a six on one and lost the opportunity to finish it off.”And we had to play some really good games to get to that.”White said that Fiji would suffer from the loss through injury of playmaker Nicky Little, instrumental in his side’s shock 38-34 pool win over Wales.”To lose your fly-half in the last move of the game going into the quarter-final cannot be a settling thing,” he said.”Look at what happened when we played England.They lost Olly Barkley and Jonny Wilkinson” and South Africa went on to win 36-0.”It really has an impact on your game when you lose your No 10.”But White added that Fiji were unlikely to change their gameplan in light of Little’s enforced absence.”They’ll still try to keep the ball in hand and move it from side to side and using their pace out wide.* Meanwhile, thousands of Tongans took to the streets of their capital city, Nuku’alofa, on Wednesday to welcome home their national team from its Rugby World Cup campaign.Reigning monarch King George V greeted players and management at his official residence after they had driven from the airport along streets thronged by supporters clad in red, the national colour.Players paraded through city streets in a float parade watched by thousands of dancing and cheering supporters and Prime Minister Feleti Sevele later hosted the team at a formal government reception.Tonga won two of its four pool matches at the World Cup in France, beating the United States and Samoa and losing narrowly to world powers South Africa and England.The team had never previously won two matches at one World Cup and it came close to joining Pacific neighbours Fiji in the tournament quarterfinals.Nampa-AFP