David Campese exclusive: Only ‘a miracle’ will see England get even close to Springboks
Wallabies legend David Campese previews the Rugby World Cup semi-finals.
Wallabies great David Campese returns with his preview of the Rugby World Cup semi-finals that see New Zealand face Argentina and England tackle South Africa.
South Africa v England
“Firstly I want to congratulate both France and South Africa for the performances they delivered last weekend. Rugby is about entertainment and that was something quite remarkable for the viewer. I have no qualms in saying this should have been the final between the two best sides in the world, and I say that with due respect to Ireland and New Zealand,” Campese said.
“There’s no doubt France played the better rugby but you don’t win prizes for artistic impression. They were absolutely brilliant in attack, but unusually for a Shaun Edwards-coached side they simply forgot to defend. It was so infuriating to watch them create brilliant scores but then switch off a moment later to concede some really daft tries, through bad control of restarts and defensive howlers, but there’s a reason why the Springboks are world champions and we saw their resilience carry them through.
He continued: “The Boks are a very complete side and their ability to create and maintain suffocating pressure is quite exceptional. The difference between the two teams was that South Africa reacted to what France were doing whereas France continued to be internalised in their thinking – they didn’t react to the game in front of them.
“A great example was the South African use of close penalties – they back themselves to score seven pointers when they smelled blood. They reacted to the key moment and found weakness. Contrast that with the French choice to go for three points in front of the sticks with eight minutes left – a Test leader knows that sometimes you only get one moment to go for it and France made the wrong call there, simply because they didn’t react to the game situation.”
Winning ugly
“England‘s route has been a little less dramatic but you have to acknowledge that winning ugly is an important skill in sport. Fiji gave England a hell of a scare and it says a lot about how the character of this team has developed over the last four weeks that they managed to scrape over the line. Sure, they won’t win many fans in terms of style, but in cup rugby it’s all about winning,” noted Campese.
“Expectations are low even in England and the Poms effectively have a free hit on Saturday. They have boxed well above their expectations going into the tournament and whilst we all know about the lopsided groups you only play what’s in front of you. To their credit, they’re intelligent, they know their strengths and they know their weaknesses. I well recall England cricketer Graham Gooch saying when he stopped playing the strokes he was poor at and focused only on three scoring shots he went from a 35 Test average to 55 and England very much subscribe to this mantra.
“It’s a similar situation to when we, Australia, played England in 1995 quarter-final; we were world champions and we were expected to win, but a few injuries here and there and England were their best version of themselves and we lost.
“Very quietly they’ll also know South Africa will have reached some real emotional highs last weekend and however good you are that takes a bit out of you. It’s whether they can deal with the emotional intensity of the Boks and also the difference in pure gas on the wings. Naturally I am a huge fan of Cheslin Kolbe – this is a guy who makes things happen – he’s highly skilled but also has a great understanding of the game as evidenced by his charge down of Thomas Ramos’ conversion – a crucial moment of that game.
“My only fear (for England) is if it goes wrong it could go very wrong for them and we could see a big score. Do I think they have a chance? No, not really. There’s not one area where England are better than South Africa with the possible exception of lineout parity and it would take a miracle to see them get even close to this Saffer side and I expect the Boks to win by at least two scores,” he noted.
🏴🇿🇦 Ex-South Africa fly-half Joel Stransky has written off England's chances this weekend. pic.twitter.com/xkrTYS5TTg
— Planet Rugby (@PlanetRugby) October 19, 2023
New Zealand v Argentina
“It’s pretty much rinse and repeat in the Argentina v New Zealand match with the caveat that Los Pumas have enough heavy artillery to give the All Blacks a scare up front,” said the Wallaby great.
“Ireland fought as hard as you like but again, towards the end of the match they suffered from the same symptom as France – they became internalised in what they were doing and didn’t react to the All Blacks plan.
“There’s a bit of an issue in Irish rugby when it comes to closing out the big games. We saw that with Leinster, the core of the national side, against La Rochelle twice in recent seasons and I think that may have played on the minds of some of the players, knowing that they’d kind of been here before and it had fallen apart, even though at domestic level.
“Argentina have grown during this tournament and they still possibly have one big game in them. They have some absolute worldies in terms of their players; who’d not want Marcos Kremer in your team, smashing everything that moves? And they have gas from everywhere in the back division. Could they do a smash and grab? Well, over 80 minutes I am not so sure but they certainly have the same free hit as England and they also hit a lot harder with ball in hand.
“It’s going to be New Zealand by a score for me, but it’ll be a hell of a lot closer than many predict,” Campese concluded.
