The Springboks are at their best when labelled “pretenders, and not contenders” in the quest for World Cup glory, according to MARK KEOHANE.
In naming his favourites to lift the Webb Ellis Cup in France, former All Blacks captain Richie McCaw recently made little mention of the Boks, while fellow World Cup winner Matt Dawson similarly underrated the world champions’ challenge.
In his TimesLIVE column, Keohane argues that this narrative will suit the South Africans, who have historically delivered at the tournament when dismissed as title-contenders.
“In my experience of South African players and coaches, they love to be the underdogs because they can only triumph,” he writes.
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“If they lose, then the response is that they were never expected to win and if they win, the response is more a retort of ‘and you never gave us a chance’.
“When there is massive expectation on them to deliver that they often stumble.
“The Boks’s mentality and, especially, the mentality of the current group of players and coaches is that they are a World Cup team. They love playoff matches.
“They lift for the biggest occasions and except for 2003 in Australia, they’ve either won it or come bloody close to winning the title.
“The Boks are at their best when labelled pretenders and not contenders.”
Photo: EPA/Sebastien Nogier