The South African rugby team opens its Rugby World Cup defence against Scotland on Sunday, a match that has the potential for an upset.
The Springboks are favourites, but they are up against a Scottish team who many in Scotland believe are the best ever in the country’s rugby history. The bold claim of being the best ever Scottish team was made by one of the country’s top rugby administrators, John Jeffrey.
And many pundits agree with him, especially on the backline, which is regarded as the fastest and most fluent ever.
Flyhalf Finn Russell is the spark creating opportunities left, right and centre, for himself and those around him. Such is the respect for Russell that in French club rugby, he’s mentioned in the same breath as legends, Jonny Wilkinson and Dan Carter.
The Springboks are well aware of how dangerous Russell is and analysts from both teams are in agreement that if Scotland’s forwards can more or less match the Springboks and lay a platform for the backline, they will be very competitive.
A sometimes-overlooked aspect of Scotland’s performance over the last few years, is their line-out.
The team have scored a lot of tries with variations of this set piece close to their opponents’ try line.
Apart from their dangerous backline, their rolling maul from an attacking line-out, is probably their most potent weapon and the Springboks should be wary of it.
The Springbok Scotland match is the main dish for South African fans this weekend, but some of the other games have the potential to be epic battles as well.
It starts with the All Blacks-France match on Friday evening, England take on Argentina on Saturday, while Fiji who beat England recently, will be in action against Wales on Sunday.
