Welsh legend Jones relishing clash with South African bullies

South Africa head coach Heyneke Meyer tells Sports Mole that he doesn’t care which one of France or New Zealand his side will meet in the semi-finals.

Coach Gatland is not concerned by Wales” poor record against the “Big Three’ and expects his side to revel in the knock-out atmosphere of the World Cup.

The Springboks needed a strong second-half performance to wear down the Welsh and Meyer said his replacements had played their part.

I honestly think if Warren Gatland can pull this off it would be a finer achievement than masterminding the British and Irish Lions win in the decisive Test against Australia in 2013.

“It doesn’t matter. If you’re going to be the best in the world, you have to beat the best in the world”. “That’s quite important to me”. They will base their game around the power game and they’ll try and bully you.

“I have always said you have to back the right guys and they have such enormous character”.

They can look at the chinks in the South African armour: their coach Heyneke Meyer hasn’t been really secure with his selections. “We’re playing knock-out rugby and hopefully we can take that further”.

“Wales had a tough game against Australia and we kept our composure”.

While at outside centre 20-year-old Tyler Morgan gets the nod to go up against Jesse Kriel, two stars of the future set to be locked in a battle that could well be a decisive factor in who comes out victorious.

Du Preez did not start the shock 34-32 loss to Japan in South Africa’s opening game of the tournament, but since then the number nine has engineered a turnaround in the team’s fortunes.

The return of wing JP Pietersen is the only change from the starting XV that beat United States of America 64-0 in their final pool game.

At first it was an ageing squad and they lost their captain Jean de Villiers, Victor Matfield has pulled out as well with a hamstring injury.

“He’s such a competitor and wants to win desperately”.

They can also put pressure on scrum half Fourie du Preez, just as they did with Australia’s Will Genia last weekend.

“I was on my knees and asked him just to train with the side”, said the Springboks coach.

Wales have named their team to play the Springboks in the World Cup quarterfinals at Twickenham on Saturday.

Fourie Du Preez and Schalk Burger celebrate the Springboks win over Wales. “This week, all the players are relaxed, but ready for complete warfare, come the 80 minutes”.

The doubt about Wales’ ability to repeat is that South Africa’s team is barely recognizable from November. There was a 6-6 draw in 1970 and Wales suffered their heaviest global defeat against them – the 96-13 mauling in Pretoria in June 1998.

Much has been made of Bryan Habana’s record-equaling feats in drawing level with Jonah Lomu’s World Cup try-scoring record, so much so that it seems the only question that most of the global media surrounding the Boks never seem to get exhausted of. First on the list is Daisuke Ohata of Japan on 69 career tries.