Rugby World Cup 2015 - All Black v South Africa: Potential for Springboks to pull off big surprise

South Africa's wing Bryan Habana celebrates after winning the quarter final match against Wales. Photo / Getty Images

It's hard not to wonder whether South Africa are going to pull off rugby's version of the rope-a-dope trick this Sunday at Twickenham.

They have been written off as a team with the ability to surprise. Since they lost to Japan in their opening game coach Heyneke Meyer has been clear about their remedy strategy: the Boks had to go back to being the Boks.

What works for them - and indeed has worked for them since time immemorial - is confrontational, direct, no frills rugby. They are the world's best at driving lineout mauls.

Their scrum is strong, capable and usually destructive. They have huge men who are surprisingly mobile and who capable of wiping out the first tackler every time.

They can kick and chase - challenge for the ball in the air and when the whole lot has been put together, they have been decidedly difficult to stop.

Since that defeat to Japan, South Africa have been impossible to contain. The simplicity of their game has been their strength. They smash the ball up the middle and just keep going like that - Schalk Burger, Duane Vermuelen, Eben Etzebeth, Beast Mtarariwa, Bismarck du Plessis...Lood de Jagar, Fancois Louw. It never ends. They keep sending them on direct lines into contact. Wave after wave.

The pressure they build is incredible and so far, Samoa, Scotland, USA and Wales have been crushed by it. All of them knew what was coming and there was nothing they could do about it.

The All Blacks are reasonably sure they know what is coming as well. They can't see the Boks deviating from what has worked so far and here's where Meyer has a big decision to make.

Is this sort of direct, physical rugby enough to beat the All Blacks in a semifinal? The All Blacks have defended like demons at this tournament and they can stand up to most, probably all teams physically.

In the few scrums there were against France, the All Blacks were good. Their lineout is aggressive and skilled at targeting opposition ball and after a shaky start this year, they haven't been vulnerable to driving lineout mauls.

One on one, the likes of Jerome Kaino will be happy to go toe-to-toe with Burger and give as good as he gets. Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock will be in their element playing against Etzebeth and de Jagar.

It's unlikely the All Blacks will dominate the Boks physically but they should be able to gain parity - to not give the gainline or concede the crucial inches over the ball.

Meyer is a smart coach. A good coach and he surely knows the limitations of the game the Boks have played to date. There has to then be the potential at least for South Africa to pull off a major surprise and play with greater width than anyone is expecting.

They have spent weeks emphasising the directness of their plan and than backing it up with performances that were exactly as they promised. Would it therefore be a stroke of genius or madness if the Boks were to come out and throw caution to the wind as they so brilliantly did at Ellis Park in 2013?

They have men who can play with the ball. Vermeulen has all the skills of Kieran Read.

Handrie Pollard can be hard to stop when he charges. Damian de Allende and Jesse Kriel are one of the more creative midfield pairings at the World Cup and Willie le Roux is a modern day Serge Blanco.

Has Meyer laid the most elaborate trap - and played the long game here where he has encouraged the All Blacks to expect the expected only to sucker punch them with a pass and run game that is as creative as it is expansive?

There has to be some likelihood of that being the case because up the guts rugby may have worked so far, but the Boks probably need more than that for it to work again against the All Blacks.