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Cape Town - The Springboks will contest their third Rugby World Cup final when they meet England in Yokohama on Saturday, but that hasn't stopped many South African fans from criticising the side.
With a heavy reliance on box kicking, set piece and defence, the Springboks have not always been the most attractive side to watch at the 2019 showpiece when it comes to attacking, running rugby.
Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk, in particular, has come in for some flak over the last two weeks with him central to the Bok kicking game in both the quarter-final win over Japan and this past weekend's semi-final triumph against Wales.
Now, as the Boks look to secure their third World Cup crown against a heavily-fancied English outfit, coach Rassie Erasmus must find a way to get the job done once more.
And, once more, it is unlikely to be pretty.
Erasmus was asked on Tuesday what he made of suggestions that the Boks were playing "boring" rugby at the tournament.
"If one understands where we’ve been coming from – being number six, seven or eight in the world – we’ve got certain challenges, and one of them was always to redeem ourselves and become a power again in world rugby, and try to get to number one and two," the coach explained.
"By doing that, you have to have some building blocks in place, and we’ve followed a certain route and played according to the stats, and the way the game is being refereed currently and what gives you good results in the short term and on the scoreboard.
"So, we certainly accept that there are some things in the game that we have to improve, and we take it on the chin.
"But we feel that we have put ourselves in a position to maybe win the World Cup, and we are in the final.
"Yes, we accept the criticism, but we are also happy that we are in the position to compete for a World Cup final, which is where we ultimately want to be."
- Compiled by Lloyd Burnard
