The Boks have been doing a good job of talking up Samoa, their opponents on Friday in a Rugby World Cup final-round Pool D match, but in reality there should be only one winner, and this was corroborated at Eden Park on Sunday when sluggish Samoa struggled to a 27-7 win over a poor Fiji team.
The Samoans have been choosing structure over their traditional flair at this World Cup, probably because most of their players are based in Europe, and while this helped them squeeze the life out of their Island neighbours, it will play into the hands of the Springboks.
Nobody does structure and arm-wrestling better than the South Africans and they will be pleased if the Samoans continue with the same approach because they are more of a handful when they play their wide game and get maximum use out of their powerful wingers.
There was an amusing and revealing comment from Samoa first five-eighths Tusi Pisi, who kicked 15 points: "We did not want to get stuck playing jungle rugby and had to keep to our structures. It was good to grind out a win, not just for ourselves and our families, but for our communities as well."
Pisi added: "As a collective, we can probably improve on some things that didn't go so well today, but a win is a win and in a World Cup that's all that matters."
