Boks can’t afford slow start

The Boks went behind 16-3 to Wales in Cardiff in the opening international match of the season last weekend, but were able to recover to eventually win 34-31. The Boks took control of the game in the middle stages at Millennium Stadium, with the world champions profiting from the pressure they applied on the Six Nations team.

However, Smit was less than satisfied with the performance afterwards, and still gave the impression he was a bit grumpy about it when he addressed a media conference in Cape Town on Tuesday.

“We had several new players in the match in Cardiff but we also had experienced guys playing who have been fronting our success for a long time. The system should be an easy one for new players to come into, so it is really no excuse for us to play as poorly as we did in the first 20 minutes against Wales,” said Smit.

“France are going to be a far tougher proposition at Newlands on Saturday and we cannot expect to get away against them with a slow start like the one we had against the Welsh. If we play poorly for 20 minutes against France we will be in trouble. They won't allow us to get away with it like Wales did.”

Smit was reluctant to pinpoint exactly what made the French a difficult team to play against. The Boks have only won three of their last nine matches against France, but Smit would only say that the French “are a very good side, that is it, they are a good team”.

However lock Danie Rossouw was a bit more forthcoming, saying the thing about the French is that they play a similar game to the Boks.

“They are very direct, just like we are, and they are extremely physical. I would say the last game I played against France was the most physical game that I have played in,” said Rossouw.

France have a reputation for playing flowing, running rugby, but in reality their most successful periods have been built around massive respect and emphasis on the basics, with the platform being built around the set-phases.

The Boks are expecting a concerted scrumming onslaught from France at Newlands, and to this end Smit is hopeful that the hard work being put in this week by the scrum under the watchful eye of former Bok stalwart Os du Randt will pay off.

“We did not scrum well against Wales and I hope we will go better. We made life difficult for ourselves on Saturday by jumping the gun on the hit, and once you have done that a couple of times it is difficult to win the referee over again,” said Smit.

“We managed to sort things out towards the end, but it is something we worked on hard with Os again this morning. We’ll need to be on the button on Saturday because we are up against a big and effective tight five.”

Smit said that the French forward pack selected for the Newlands test has few weaknesses.

“They are pretty good at everything. They have good scrummagers and they have good lineout jumpers,” he said.