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Bok star Pollard wary of 'suffocating' Wales

Yokohama - Springbok flyhalf Handre Pollard has warned South Africa against falling into the trap laid by a "suffocating" Wales ahead of Sunday's World Cup semi-final in Yokohama.

Wales have won all four of their Tests against South Africa since a 23-19 loss at Twickenham in the quarter-finals of the 2015 World Cup.

"They know what they are good at, and focus on that," Pollard told reporters at the Yokohama Stadium on Friday.

"They starve you of possession and territory, and enforce their kicking game on you. They take away your set-piece.

"It's not a game-plan or rugby with a lot of flair in it, but it's just suffocating," he said.

Pollard was playing when Wales beat South Africa 20-11 in the teams' most recent meeting in Cardiff in November and he said he was glad to be facing Warren Gatland's men on neutral territory this weekend and with most of the squads fit.

"Lately, we've struggled against them. It's always our last game on the end-of-year tour, after a long season and in the Millennium Stadium (in Cardiff).

"It's always tough, and you never have all your guys fit and ready to go.

As for how South Africa would counter Wales' tactics, a smiling Pollard said: "We have a couple of plans up our sleeves! I'm not going to go into that too much. We will see on Sunday."

Kick-off on Sunday is at 11:00 (SA time). 

Teams:

South Africa

15 Willie le Roux, 14 S'bu Nkosi, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Tendai Mtawarira

Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 RG Snyman, 20 Franco Mostert, 21 Francois Louw, 22 Herschel Jantjies, 23 Frans Steyn

Wales

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 George North, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Hadleigh Parkes, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Gareth Davies, 8 Ross Moriarty, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Aaron Wainwright, 5 Alun Wyn Jones, 4 Jake Ball, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones

Substitutes: 16 Elliot Dee, 17 Rhys Carre, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Aaron Shingler, 21 Tomos Williams, 22 Rhys Patchell, 23 Owen Watkin

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