“No player over here feels he is B team material” -Flip van der Merwe

THE manner in which Samoa went about dismantling the Wallabies at the ANZ Stadium on Sunday night has been keenly noted by the Springboks, and although the much-chastised Australians will be in a different frame of mind for the Tri-Nations opener, the Springboks reckon the Samoan recipe will work again if the Boks can dominate the physical exchanges.

“The Samoans pointed us in the right direction. The way the Aussies play can be stifled if you get on top of them in certain areas,” said lock Flip van der Merwe, who will be in the second row alongside Johann Muller. “But that match was also a reminder to any team that if you do not pitch up physically for a Test match you are going to get smashed. Form or pedigree does not matter – you have to be in the zone on the day.”

The Pacific Islanders attacked the breakdown in numbers and with brutal aggression, thus disrupting the flow of the Aussies’ attacking game. Grubber kicks were used to turn the Wallaby wingers, who tend to be brilliant going forward but not too clever going backwards and, of course, the Samoans delivered a crunching series of big hits on defence.

“Look no two Tests are the same and the Wallabies will be stung by the criticism this week, but that match nevertheless was a major eye-opener,” said the Blue Bull. “The Samoans did certain basics extremely well and obviously we will pay attention to what worked for them.”

The Springboks had a lively session at the North Sydney Oval yesterday and while Muller and substitute flank Heinrich Brussow did not train fully (they participated in the lineouts) they are expected to be named in the match 22 today.

The last time the teams met was in Bloemfontein last year when Van der Merwe was penalised in injury time and Kurtley Beale kicked a dramatic winner.

“I try not to live in the past but yes that (penalty) does give me extra personal motivation,” the 26-year-old admitted.

The Springbok “A” team also lost badly in Brisbane in 2010, so what chance does the “B” team have of winning on Australian soil?

“Calling us a B team is a bit rough,” said Van der Merwe, whose father Flippie won six caps as a massive prop for South Africa in the ’80s.

“No player over here feels he is B team material – there will be no B team on the field and we certainly won’t play like one,” he said.

That said, this Springbok side has not played together before and there is a tendency for new teams to fall away in the second half. Van der Merwe said this issue had been addressed.

“To be honest, I doubt there has been a better prepared Springbok team ahead of a Tri-Nations tour and that is because we had the advantage of a two-week camp (that could take place because no South African team was in the Super Rugby final). I don’t think that has happened before.

“Because we are a new side we did a huge amount of work on the set pieces so that we will have a solid structure in the game. We are very happy with how that has gone. We did a lot of live scrumming and lineout work in Cape Town, as well as driving.”

Van der Merwe said that as long as the team sticks to the game plan, they will maintain structure.

“There has been talk that we might be competitive for three quarters of the game and then lose it in the final quarter. Again, we have addressed that. The last quarter comes down to fitness, and we certainly did enough of that in the camp!”

Van der Merwe is one of a handful of players that is touch-and-go for World Cup selection and has the chance to play himself into the squad.

“The way we see it is that a successful Tri-Nations tour could be a stepping stone into the World Cup squad,” he said. “We can’t ultimately control selection but we can influence it by winning these games. If you have a winning team, individuals benefit.”

by Mike Greenaway