South Africa's side for the World Cup final was even more predictable than the Australian media laying into England for not playing basketball rugby. Fourteen of the players who started against Samoa in the Springboks' opening match last month will run on to the Stade de France on Saturday. The 15th, the centre Jean de Villiers, has returned home through injury.
The South Africa coach, Jake White, could virtually have named the side three years ago. The most-capped Springboks' team in history will take the field against England. Only the wing JP Pietersen and De Villiers's replacement, Francois Steyn, have not played in 20 internationals. The No8 Danie Rossouw is the most inexperienced member of the pack with 30 caps and the collective total of the side is 668, an average of 44.
"Reaching the final was not something that happened by accident," said White today. "It is the result of four years' planning, organisation and hard work. We are not just where we want to be but where we always intended to be." Questioned about the markedly different route taken by England to the Stade de France, he replied: "I knew you would ask me that. Our motto has always been 'to fail to prepare is to prepare to fail'. Getting to the final the way they have may work to England's advantage on Saturday, but some of their guys who won the 2003 tournament might be thinking this week that the lack of preparation this time compared to the way Clive Woodward went about things might count against them. We have driven our own destiny."
White was in relaxed mood as he went around groups of journalists at South Africa's five-star hotel in a southern district of Paris. The metro strike did not appear to have affected the attendance at the team announcement with banks of cameras and a flotilla of microphones following White and his players around. "The difference between this and the last team announcement before we played England could not have been more marked," said White. "It shows just how big a World Cup final is. People go on about style of play, but it is all about being here. New Zealand say they are the best team in the world. Where are they?"
The Springboks trained for the last time yesterday at a pitch in Noisy-le-Grand, an eastern suburb which is not far from Disneyland. In what has been typical of this World Cup, the locals adopted the South Africans to such an extent that the entrance to the clubhouse at the ground they have used this month (last repainted to incorporate the colours of the rainbow nation), the shopping mall in the town and signposts to the stadium were all adorned by the South Africa flag.
Not that it is easy for anyone to approach the players. They left the training ground yesterday in their coach preceded by three police outriders on motorbikes. None of the assembled media was allowed to leave before the squad had departed and a number of plain-clothes officers mingled among the reporters, yet security was not in evidence at the hotel today. In contrast, barriers have been placed outside England's hotel with security guards keeping out unaccredited photographers. South Africa may be the favourites on Saturday, but England are deemed more newsworthy.
White was coy on who would be presenting the South Africa players with their jerseys on the eve of the final, but it is believed that it will be a three-pronged effort as the Springboks turn back to the year when they won the World Cup. Mornie du Plessis, the manager that year, Francois Pienaar, the captain who received the Webb Ellis Trophy from Nelson Mandela, and Joel Stransky, whose extra-time drop goal toppled New Zealand, will be called on.
It is partly to counter one area where White does feel England have an advantage. "They have a number of guys who know what it means to play in a World Cup final. The likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Phil Vickery, Jonny Wilkinson, Mike Catt, Martin Corry and Jason Robinson can make a big difference to them this week when they get up and talk. It was why I brought on board Eddie Jones [Australia's coach in the last World Cup] and his experience has been invaluable." White forgot to mention that the prop Os du Randt played in the 1995 final.
What difference will last month's 36-0 by South Africa over England make? "A final is totally different to a group match," said White. "I would put it in this context: we have played England three times in the last six months and won on each occasion. We have reeled off four successive victories over them? Given that record, would I want to swap positions with them? No."
The fact that White was being candid two days before the game of his life rather than lapsing into meaningless coach-speak, saying nothing so as not to inflame the opposition, shows not only his self-confidence but also his unshakeable belief in his players. He knows this has been a tournament to prepare for the unexpected, but he wants South Africa to be painted as the favourites they are. He is not into pretence in what are his final days as South Africa's coach.
