SA pretty straight-forward team

Johannesburg – Japan coach Eddie Jones does not expect any surprises from the Springboks when the two side’s clash in their Rugby World Cup in Brighton, England on Saturday.

Jones, who was a technical advisor to the Springboks during their triumphant 2007 Rugby World Cup campaign, was asked whether his knowledge of South Africa would give his side an added edge.

The Australian-born coach said the Springboks would persist with their tried and tested game plan which did not require much insight knowledge.

“South Africa is a pretty straight forward team, you know what they are going to do,” Jones said at the team announcement on Thursday.

“All that sort of knowledge, everyone has that, and I don’t see that as an advantage to us at all. In terms of the psyche of South Africa, again everyone knows how they play, they are a big physical team and they try to monster you.

“I don’t think I have any massive insight into South Africa rugby that will help us in this game, like any team we will play as tactically well as we can.”

Jones, who has been linked to a move to the Stormers, said Saturday’s match was a typical David-versus-Goliath clash between one of the most successful teams at the Rugby World Cup and a side with one of the worst records.

He said Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer’s team selections for the opener suggested South Africa was nervous of their first outing.

“South Africa is going to be nervous, you can see with the selection of the team they are a bit nervous,” he said.

“They are playing Victor Matfield and those guys in a game like this you normally would expect them to rest they are a bit nervous.

“That’s natural after the previous results, the South African team is under enormous pressure to perform and when you lose matches in Test rugby, which they have you are under pressure.”

Teams:

South Africa:

15 Zane Kirchner, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Jean de Villiers (captain), 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Pat Lambie, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Schalk Burger, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Lood de Jager, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Coenie Oosthuizen, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Fourie du Preez, 22 Handre Pollard, 23 JP Pietersen

Japan:

15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Male Sau, 12 Craig Wing, 11 Kotaro Matsushima, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Hendrik Tui, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch, 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Masataka Mikami.

Substitutes: 16 Takeshi Kazu, 17 Keita Inagaki, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Shinya Makabe, 20. Amanaki Mafi, 21 Atsushi Hiwasa, 22 Harumichi Tatekawa, 23 Karne Hesketh