Cape Town - The Springboks should not have any trouble dispatching Samoa in their Rugby World Cup encounter in Birmingham on Saturday, local bookmakers have predicted.
According to Sportingbet.co.za, Heyneke Meyer’s Boks will beat Samoa by 17 points in their clash at Villa Park, which is the home of English football side Aston Villa.
Last week, the same bookmakers had South Africa to beat Japan by 44 points, only to see the Brave Blossoms cause arguably the greatest shock in the history of rugby union by winning 34-32.
The Springboks have never lost to Samoa in eight previous Tests, with the South Africans winning the last encounter 56-23 in Pretoria in 2013.
However, the last time the two nations clashed at a World Cup was in New Zealand four years ago when the Boks sneaked a 13-5 win.
It’s pretty clear that South Africa underestimated their opponents last week.
They have assured that it won’t happen again this week, with forwards coach Johann van Graan stating earlier in the week:
“Samoa have some fantastic players, some physical players, (they’re) a well-coached team. I thought they did some really good things over the weekend (against USA). We’ve been watching them for a while.
“This is World Cup Rugby and like we experienced first-hand, there are no weak teams in this competition. It’s week for week, game for game. We’re playing against Samoa and we respect them and it’s going to be a tough 80 minutes.”
Saturday’s clash is scheduled for 17:45 (SA time).
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Victor Matfield, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Lood de Jager, 20 Siya Kolisi, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Pat Lambie, 23 Jesse Kriel
Samoa:
15 Tim Nanai-Williams, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Ray Lee-Lo, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Mike Stanley, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Ofisa Treviranus (captain), 7 Jack Lam, 6 TJ Ioane, 5 Iosefa Tekori, 4 Teofilo Paulo, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Motu Matu'u, 1 Sakaria Taulafo
Substitutes: 16 Ole Avei, 17 Viliamu Afatia, 18 Census Johnston, 19 Faifili Levave, 20 Vavae Tuilagi, 21 Vavao Afemai, 22 Tusi Pisi, 23 George Pisi