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MARSEILLES, France - South Africa have vowed to batten down the hatches in their World Cup quarterfinal against a Fiji team who love free-flowing rugby and an expansive game.
The Springboks, boasting a national record total of 639 caps in the starting 15, will look to their steely
pack to close down the game to nullify the skillful Fijian side on Monday morning (NZT).
Wales fell into the trap of playing the Fijians at their own game and came horrendously unstuck, losing 34-38 in the decisive pool game and missing out on a berth in the knockout phase.
That is something lock Victor Matfield said the Springboks would not be doing.
"Fiji would like an open game but we will play to our gameplan even if it does not please the crowd," vowed Matfield, who will join Tana Umaga-coached French second division club Toulon after the World Cup.
"They are good when they get the ball so we need to keep it away from them as much as possible," he said, adding that the Pacific islanders had performed decently in the lineout against the Welsh.
"They won all of their 11 throws against Wales even though it wasn't as clean as they probably would have liked."
Centre Jaque Fourie, who will likely be targeted by hard-hitting opposite number Seru Rabeni, especially after saying that the Springboks did not respect Fiji, said he was relishing the chance of a big-contact game.
"We like the physical confrontations.
"Fiji are a threat because they are all good runners and steppers," he added, stressing that his team's gameplan would not involve playing in the style of rugby sevens, the abbreviated and much faster form of the game in which Fiji have become world masters.
"If you make it a sevens game then that's what they (Fiji) want," Fourie said.
"For the first 20 to 30 minutes - if we can keep it structured, keep it short, keep it boring and put some points on the board - then at the back end of the game we can open it up a bit."
Second five-eighth Francois Steyn added that firstup tackles could also play a big role in the match here at Stade Velodrome.
"We need to get the Fijian players on the ground as soon as possible. We can't take them high because they are very strong in the upper body so we need to wrap them up around the legs.
"The sooner we get them to the ground then we can attack the ball.
"There's going to be some huge hits. We must be straight and direct and enjoy the day."
South African captain and hooker John Smit said his team had been disappointed to concede some tries against the United States and would work to blank out Fiji.
"The defence in the first three weeks was pretty good," he said.
"But we weren't happy with the tries that we let through last weekend so we'll have to tighten up our defence and make sure we don't give them that type of opportunity to activate their strengths."
- AFP
