Rugby World Cup 2011
Muller: Boks can topple Kiwis
2011-08-17 13:08
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Pieter Muller (File)
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Cape Town - Former Springbok centre Pieter Muller believes that South Africa can win the Rugby World Cup even if they have to face the All Blacks in the semi-finals.
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Click to BUY John Smit’s Captain in the Cauldron bookMuller played 33 Tests for South Africa, including four World Cup matches, and ended his career with a 22-19 victory over the All Blacks in the third place playoff of the 1999 World Cup.
The Springboks have lost nine of the 17 Test matches they have played since June last year, and have looked increasing less likely to become the first team to retain the Webb Ellis cup.
However, according to
Sky Sports, Muller believes that the team cannot be ruled out because of their experience.
"It is going to be difficult but I think there is so much experience in the South Africa side it just depends on the guys getting up for it and performing," Muller is reported to have said.
"I think we will be up there again but our only problem will be New Zealand in the semi-finals. South Africa can beat them on home soil as we have shown in the past and in the World Cup, just a small margin or that one moment of genius can win it.”
South Africa have been grouped with Wales, Samoa, Fiji and Namibia in Pool D of the tournament, while New Zealand have been grouped with Canada, Tonga, France and Japan in Pool A.
The teams will face each other in the semi-finals whether they qualified for the quarter-finals as runners-up or group winners.
Muller added that home ground advantage could turn out to be a negative for New Zealand because of the immense pressure they will be under.