Despite Scotland and Ireland starting their Six Nations campaigns on the front foot, Nick Mallett believes the Springboks will be able to beat both at the upcoming World Cup.
Ireland kicked the 2023 Six Nations off by claiming a bonus-point victory with a dominant performance against Scotland in Dublin. This was followed up by Scotland snatching a last-gasp victory over England, thanks to the second of Duhan van der Merwe’s tries in the last 10 minutes of the match.
Both Ireland and Scotland will be in Pool B with the Springboks at the upcoming in France. The defending champions will face either New Zealand or France, who had to fight to get a win in Italy, in the quarter-finals.
Writing in his column for Sport24, former head coach Nick Mallett believes the Springboks will still be too good for their northern hemisphere opponents later this year.
“The Boks have Scotland as their opening game and then Ireland two weeks later, and both of those fixtures provide possible stumbling blocks. It really is a tough pool.
“Looking at the way South Africa plays, I think they have a template to cause a lot of trouble within the Irish game plan. They nearly did it on the November tour – there were some controversial calls in the last 10 minutes and, unfortunately, it counted against the Boks and they lost the game.
“The Bok game plan is based around set-piece dominance and territory as well as a suffocating defence. If Scotland decide to throw the ball around against the Boks, like they did against England, I don’t think they will get the same rewards and I don’t think we need to be concerned.
“There is a sense that this could be the northern hemisphere’s World Cup and that one of the countries will land them a first title in 20 years since England in 2003. I think that the northern hemisphere feels it is their turn to win again.
“They will look at Ireland and France as their most successful candidates for that, and the Boks have to play against them both.
“Going into this World Cup as champions, the Boks will have a massive target on their backs, but the way the Boks play is going to make it very difficult for teams to beat them, I think.
“I don’t see a side that can outmuscle a South African side – and, regardless of who the Boks face in the quarter-finals, I think they are in a strong position to win.”
Photo: Twitter: @Springboks