‘Boks need brains not desperation’
Jannie du Plessis believes an over-reliance on desperation could hinder the Boks in their match against Scotland.
|||Newcastle - One of the most educated minds within the Springbok team believes that brains and not desperation will be the deciding factor in the Springboks Rugby World Cup clash against Scotland in Newcastle on Saturday.
Springbok prop Jannie du Plessis, who is also a qualified medical doctor, says the Springboks convincing 46-6 result against Samoa was born out of sheer desperation but that they would need to be more tactical and educated against Scotland.
Du Plessis believes that an over reliance on desperation could hinder the Springboks ability to play to their strengths and beat Scotland even though it was a worthy part of their artillery last weekend against Samoa after their loss the previous weekend to Japan.
“The thing about desperation is that it can tire you out because if you are worrying all the time about the result, there comes a curve when it is a negative. You cannot play every week with desperation because educated bullets will always beat untutored courage,” said Du Plessis.
The Springboks still find themselves in a desperate position of having to beat the Scots for them to have their fate within their grasp of making the quarterfinals but Du Plessis says they should emulate last weekend’s performance and just be better at what they do if they are to get the required outcome.
“You can play with desperation and courage but then you have to also use educated bullets as well. There is still a desperation but it is our aim to put that desperation into a little bit of confidence because you play better with confidence.
“We want to also polish our performance and do the little things well. Hopefully we will have a few more times in the next few weeks when we have to call on desperation. We actually want to put similar performances to what the Scots did to their opponents in the pool. We want to put a clinical performance against them and emulate them,” Du Plessis added.
Over and above emulating how Scotland have gone about in dismissing Japan and the USA in their two previous outings at the tournament, Du Plessis is convinced that the Springboks are unbeatable if they play to their strengths and not allow the opposition to dictate play.
“We play a certain way when we play our best rugby and we did that against Samoa and that is by using those educated bullets by playing to your strengths and not conforming to the type of game the other team plays. What we learnt against Samoa was that we need to play to our strengths and making them so good that we can overcome anything any team throws at us.”
“I definitely felt that the main thing was the main thing. Nobody wondered if things would work or not. If you run you run hard, if you tackle you tackle hard, if you drive you drive hard and if you kick you kick to the best of your ability. That was a good blessing in disguise (about playing to our strengths).
“The Scots are a good team and playing good rugby but how do you beat them? Well it is not by worrying, it is about everyone doing their main thing and doing it well,” Du Plessis said.
IOL