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Gatland: Boks don't play rugby

Wellington - Wales coach Warren Gatland wasted little time in firing the opening shots ahead of their World Cup opener against champions South Africa, saying the Springboks "don't play any rugby".

Gatland's team will meet South Africa in their Pool D match on Sept. 11 and the former All Blacks' hooker was adamant the game plan the Springboks used to win the 2007 tournament would be evident again this time.

"They don't play any rugby," Gatland told reporters in Wellington on Saturday, a day after his side arrived in New Zealand for the Sept. 9-Oct. 23 tournament, before he clarified his statement.

"They're very good at what they do in terms of set piece and they put the ball up in the air, use the power runners effectively and they're a strong defensive side.

"We pretty much know what they're going to do.

"(Morne) Steyn kicks penalties and drop goals and they will play to their strengths because that's what they're good at doing (and) they're definitely a hard side to beat."

Gatland said the key to beating the Springboks, therefore, would be to match them physically, which he was confident his side would be able to do.

Their build-up in August, playing three games and winning their last two against 2007 finalists England and third-placed Argentina, had also held them in good stead for their expected bruising encounter next week, the 47-year-old said.

"It has been great the last couple of months having the players together. That has always been the frustration at the international level, not being able to have a pre-season or buildup.

"I'm pretty happy with what happened in August with the warm-up games and we think we're in pretty good shape.

"We think we can match them physically and that's the key to it."

Gatland was also at pains to point out, very little had separated the two sides in their three previous encounters, though all three were won by the Springboks.

"The last three times we have played them there has been very little in terms of the points, I think it was three points, four points, five points and we have outscored them seven tries to six... so there hasn't been a heck of a lot between the two teams.

"All we need to do is get over that final hurdle and get that 'W' (win) next to our names."

While Gatland is not prepared to look any further ahead than the opening clash for now, he remains well aware of the tough nature of Pool D, in which they also face Namibia, Samoa and Fiji.

The two Pacific nations have combined to stop Wales advancing from the pool phase on two occasions, with Samoa halting their progress in 1991 and Fiji's 38-34 victory four years ago also preventing them from reaching the quarter-finals.

Samoa also beat Wales in 1999 but that did not stop them from winning the pool.

"They'll both be tough," Gatland said. "We did watch them both pretty closely but it is one game at a time for us and we're concentrating on South Africa.

"We just know how tough this group will be and if you come out of this group you're in great shape for (the) quarter-finals and semi-finals and you couldn't get any better preparation than this group that we're in."

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