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Cape Town - Perhaps the most comforting thing you can say from a South African point of view is “phew, thank goodness he doesn’t play for New Zealand”.
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Just imagine, after all, how Alesana Tuilagi, the 1.85m, 119kg slab of turbo-charged muscle, would revel in the running space provided by the world’s No 1-ranked side, presently playing with near-unprecedented commitment to a ball-in-hand philosophy?
But Tuilagi does represent Samoa, the team South Africa must play last in Pool D at the World Cup, and those here who got up at 04:30 to watch their dismantling of plucky but over-powered Nambia on Wednesday will be under no illusions about the threat the humungous left wing poses.
Tuilagi helped himself to a hat-trick of tries in the space of some 37 minutes as Samoa, cooped up like caged beasts as they patiently awaited their belated start to the tournament, finally got out of the blocks with a six-tries-to-two triumph.
The comparisons with one Jonah Lomu, the All Black icon of 1995 and a bit beyond it, are obvious and have already been made, considering that Tuilagi is no spring chicken, aged 30, and most committed rugby-watchers will have long ago noted the threat the Leicester Tigers favourite poses to any opponents.
But at Rotorua he only confirmed that his relish for getting those massive thighs shifting like pistons has hardly dimmed.
He is one of those players who requires not one, nor two, but probably even three or four players ahead of him if he is to possibly be thwarted when in full flight 10 or 12 metres from the try-line – the Namibians discovered once or twice that he is not averse to dishing out a dose of his own “Mike Catt” method of bumping off a hapless defender as if he were a mere obstructive lily in long grass.
The Springboks, traditionally, have a habit of bringing out their most defiant qualities when it comes to policing a Lomu or close impersonator: they always prided themselves on somehow keeping Lomu himself away from their whitewash, with men like James Small and Joost van der Westhuizen making up in bloody-mindness and courage what they surrendered to him in physical dimensions.
That said, more cynical onlookers will also be quick to point out that while the Boks put plentiful manpower into stopping Lomu, sometimes it meant that customers like Christian Cullen and Jeff Wilson could “party” with gusto on the other side of the park.
So the Springbok class of 2011 will be required to strike a balance between shutting down Tuilagi’s treasured space whilst not losing sight of the ruggedness and stealth Samoa also offer in plenty of other positions.
If there was one especially useful lesson from Wednesday’s good-calibre match for Peter de Villiers and company, it was that the Pacific Islanders’ large backline units like Tuilagi look a lot less clever when the ball is put behind them, especially if they are going to have to field a rolling ball on the retreat or be forced to put it to foot rapidly from a tight angle.
The winger nearly made an embarrassing hash once, for instance, of dotting dead a ball in the Samoan in-goal area under pressure from a Namibian attacker, which came perilously close to leading to a third Namibian try.
A bit more worryingly from a Bok perspective, it is clear that Samoa have put in hard yards improving their set scrum – it was hugely impressive in this game and was a direct cause of their being awarded a penalty try after a protracted period of really putting the scrummaging squeeze on the “biltongboere”.
You still sense that their lineout may be an area of vulnerability – with a bit of luck Victor Matfield will be fighting fit for the North Harbour fixture – because much of the dominance they enjoyed here against Namibia was as result of the underdogs’ own bungling.
Kobus Wiese, guesting with the international TV commentary panel, rightly lamented the Namibians not using the front-jumper option nearly enough in the swirling, tricky wind as many throw-ins drifted skew.
Their captain, the tireless ex-Bulls blindside flank Jacques Burger who did his best to give the Samoans some of their own bruising medicine in the tight-loose, admitted afterwards: “Our first phase was shocking; they sucked the life out of us there.
“You’ve got to outwork Samoa … you can’t overpower them.”
The last part seemed like advice the Boks would do very, very well to take on board for September 30.
Meanwhile the Samoans move on to a really juicy meeting with Wales at Hamilton this weekend … perhaps hamstrung just a little by the short turnaround time to the clash for them, and some seemingly sidelining injuries picked up by key players like flyhalf Tusi Pisi.
But they’re going to be a hard nut for everyone to crack in the remainder of Pool D.
