The Springboks must keep their focus

It’s a common mistake on a rugby field and it often disrupts a promising move: a player focuses too far ahead – on the tackler bearing down upon him, for example – and not enough on the player passing the ball to him. Result: Knock-on. Possession given away.

In a similar sense, the danger for the Springboks facing Wales in tomorrow’s Rugby World Cup semifinal in Yokohama, Japan, is that they will be looking ahead to the expected, and predicted, final against the All Blacks next weekend.

That could lead to a lack of focus on the prime concern tomorrow: to get to the final, first you have to beat Wales. And that won’t be as easy as it looks on paper.

There was a time when a South African rugby team merely had to pitch up to thrash the Welsh and the Boks once enjoyed a long unbeaten run of victories against them.

But the world is a markedly different place now and the Welsh have beaten us on a number of occasions in recent years.

True, the men in red haven’t had a stellar World Cup so far, looking off peak form and misfiring in some ways. In addition, there are a few injuries to key players. Yet, that picture is almost a carbon copy of the Boks’ trip to Japan so far.

Siya Kolisi’s men ground out a hard-fought win against Japan in last weekend’s semifinal and there were some things which still require work.

The Welsh were even less impressive in scraping through to the semis in a tight match against a 14-man France.

We believe, though, that we haven’t seen the best of this Bok squad yet. Cometh the hour, cometh the men.

For the couch potato fans back at home: this is a good place to be. So let’s enjoy it.

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