There was an immediate upturn of interest after the South Africa victory, with nearly 20 million Japanese watching the team’s second Rugby World Cup match against Scotland, their first following the stunning upset. Despite a slightly disjointed performance in the first half, the South Africans completed a demolition job on the United States of America, crushing them 64-0 with a hat-trick from Bryan Habana and Damian de Allende, Bismarck du Plessis, Francois Louw, Jesse Kriel and Lwazi Mvovo all going over the whitewash.
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It’s a good thing for the veteran scrumhalf, then, that he wasn’t in the hot seat after South Africa’s opening match having to explain how the two-time World Cup champions were beaten 34-32 by Japan on September 19.
The showdown at St James’ Park, so crucial for Scotland to win to cement their quarter-final berth will be the first time they have met since Samoa beat them in Durban 27-17 two years ago.
“Experience was kind of a factor but we have gone on form mostly”, Samoa coach Stephen Betham said on Thursday.
“There will be times in the game when Samoa get their tails up and it’s just about defending well, taking the sting out of them and keeping concentrating”.
Hardie missed Scotland’s win over the U.S. Eagles and the loss to the Springboks after failing a few in-depth test questions that make up part of the return-to-play protocol. “Japan picked a team and have been getting good results”.
The English will say farewell to their own tournament on an evening when their game might not even be the biggest rugby occasion in Manchester, usually a hotbed of English football.
“The feedback we’ve received from spectators and the teams themselves has been extremely positive and we’re delighted that this worldwide event put the spotlight on Milton Keynes when it was operating at its very best”. “The fact they are already out may make it a little loose this weekend, and we feel there may be opportunities for us in (that kind of) game”.
It has been a trademark of Scotland’s campaign so far that they have fought back from sluggish starts and Reid is well aware his team can not afford to continue to drop behind in the early stages.
“We were disappointed with the way we started the game and didn’t quite get the crowd that involved”, he said. “We’ve been looking at Scotland since before we came to this tournament”.
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S Hogg; S Maitland, M Bennett, M Scott, T Seymou; F Russell, G Laidlaw (capt); A Dickinson, R Ford, W Nel, R Gray, J Gray, R Wilson, J Hardie, D Denton.
