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At last we have a Springboks team that will stop our fans stamping their feet in frustration and biting their nails in trepidation.
Even my dog couldn’t stop furiously wagging his tail after South Africa’s 64-0 demolition job on the USA in their last pool match.
What a change from the team that lost to Japan in South Africa’s first match. We now have a line-up that has every chance of matching, if not beating, the best teams in the World Cup and have a realistic chance of lifting the Webb Ellis Trophy again.
South Africa had Frans Malherbe at prop instead of Jannie du Plessis, Lood de Jager at lock for Victor Matfield, Fourie du Preez at scrumhalf for Ruan Pienaar, centre Damian de Allende for Jean de Villiers and fullback Willie le Roux over other contenders such as Zane Kirchner.
A very different Springbok team emerged from the five changes. In the past, Du Plessis has seldom lasted 80 minutes, Matfield has been clearly past his best days in the loose, Pienaar has been ineffective and too slow, de Villiers not the player of old and Kirchner nowhere near good enough.
Thankfully, gone are the early days when coach Heyneke Meyer was even looking to the likes of Bakkies Botha, Juan Smith and Jaque Fourie because he wanted to pack the squad with experienced players.
Injuries have played their part: de Villiers broke his jaw again and Matfield strained a hamstring, two of the notable injury problems South Africa have suffered. De Villiers had to quit the squad but Matfield still appears to loom large in Meyer’s mind.
The starting team that beat the USA had just four players from the 2007 World Cup-winning squad in it: hooker Bismarck du Plessis, flank Schalk Burger, scrumhalf du Preez and wing Bryan Habana.
We now have a potent mix of form and experienced players and I hope that Meyer does not bring back the 38-year-old Matfield as captain when the Springboks play either Australia or Wales in the quarter-finals.
Matfield has unsurprisingly been excellent in the line-outs, but so has de Jager. The latest statistics show, however, that de Jager has rated higher in line-out steals in sixth place among World Cup teams while Matfield is 13th. The statistics are from the time they both started two games.
De Jager has been one of the stars of the World Cup both in line-outs and in his driving play. Matfield on the other hand has shown his age and been laborious in general play.
Criticism in the past has been aimed at Meyer’s over-reliance on an old brigade and his favouring of experience over form. Injuries to a point have forced his hand and given younger players a chance to show their skills. And the changes have paid off big-time.
South African fans shouldn’t get too cocky after the hiding we gave the USA. We now face top-tier teams in the knockout stages and New Zealand, Australia, Wales, France, Ireland and Argentina will all be formidable hurdles.
I favour du Preez over Matfield as captain. He turned in effective performances leading the team against Scotland and the USA but above all he has a fine-tuned rugby brain. Starting Matfield as captain and as a lock over either Eben Etzebeth or de Jager, in my view, would be a big mistake.
I am sure that ‘Big Vic’ would love to end his career on a high and even lift the Webb Ellis Trophy. The problem is that Matfield has limited ideas of how to play the game while du Preez has the rugby nous to change tactics when necessary.
Meyer will be wise not to try and control games from the stand. Players such as du Preez, Burger and Duane Vermeulen have enough experience to make good decisions on the field of play.
Canny coaches such as former All Blacks boss Graham Henry and Japan’s current one has both admitted that the captain on the field has a better idea of what to do.
Henry recalled giving New Zealand captain Richie McCaw instructions during a game some years ago and Jones said he had wanted Japan’s leader Michael Leitch to take the points and earn a draw against South Africa.
After both McCaw and Leitch ignored the orders and their teams won the games, Henry and Jones admitted that the captains had been right and in a better position to decide.
I hope that Meyer, who has shown a predilection to control everything, will be wise enough to give his captain free rein from now on.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.