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Duane: Boks must be more clinical against Wales

Cape Town - The Springboks will have to be far more clinical with their attacking opportunities in Sunday's Rugby World Cup semi-final against Wales than they were in their quarter-final win over Japan. 

That is the view of No 8 Duane Vermeulen

The Boks were comfortable 26-3 winners against the tournament hosts in Tokyo this past weekend, but there were numerous mistakes that crept into their game in some promising attacking situations. 

Addressing journalists on Tuesday, Vermeulen acknowledged that the Boks needed to be far better in that department. 

"There was great defence shown by the team. Not conceding a try for 10 minutes when down to 14 men … that was fantastic to see as a team," he said.

"On the attacking side, we had a few opportunities and knocked a few balls on, and dropped one or two.

"But going into a semi-final, you might only get three or four opportunities, and then you need to convert those into points because you never know when you will be back in the points zone.

"It’s a difficult thing, but it’s individual errors, we are not robots. Guys try something, and sometimes the ball goes to ground, and you make a mistake.

"But as long as it’s not a trend that keeps going throughout the game, and as long as it’s not system error, then in a way, we are OK with that."

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

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