Matfield also expressed his pride over the manner in which South Africa responded to their humiliating defeat against Japan to raise hopes they could win the Webb Ellis Cup before they were beaten by New Zealand at the semi-final stage.
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Heyneke Meyer concedes he has made a lot of mistakes as South Africa coach, but wants to put a disappointing Rugby World Cup campaign behind them and be given the opportunity to take the Springboks to the next level.
South Africa finished third at the World Cup as they eased past Argentina.
“The one thing I love about rugby, you’re always around guys who want to be excellent, and that’s different from any other job”. We have given our hearts and souls to the Boks for the last six months, so third place would be acceptable.
Du Preez said after the semi-final that he probably would not appear again in the Springbok jersey.
“Argentina are the best example of how a rugby team can evolve”, Thinus Delport told Sky Sports.
The 38-year-old originally retired from the global game after the 2011 World Cup, but he returned from the wilderness last year in time to play in this year’s competition and he will earn his 127th cap during the third place play-off against the Pumas. “If you compare the way they are playing now to the way they played three or four years ago, the two are miles apart”.
“South Africa doesn’t have that”.
Ayerza was one of five survivors from that 2007 match, and was struggling to accept this might be his last outing for the Pumas.
The Springboks narrowly lost last weekend in the semifinals to the All Blacks while Australia beat Argentina.
“I might look back in years from now and reflect and say‚ ‘that was a good innings'”. Everyone has their opinion on what makes a classic, but I thought Saturday’s match between New Zealand and South Africa, despite the relative lack of tries and linebreaks, was one of the most gripping of the World Cup.
As semi-final weekends go, that was a pretty good one. I’m just thinking about today. Juan Imhoff, the hat-trick hero against South Africa at the Rugby Championship, is perhaps the most glaring omission. “I’d love to go on with him; he’s definitely a guy that I’ve learned a hell of a lot from”.
“It’s mentally very, very tough because it doesn’t mean anything to me”.
South Africa: 1-Tendai Mtawarira, 2-Bismarck du Plessis, 3-Frans Malherbe, 4-Eben Etzebeth, 5-Victor Matfield (captain), 6-Francois Louw, 7-Schalk Burger, 8-Duane Vermeulen, 9-Ruan Pienaar, 10-Handre Pollard, 11-Bryan Habana, 12-Damian De Allende, 13-Jesse Kriel, 14-JP Pietersen, 15-Willie le Roux. Can he really say that a team with Trevor Nyakane, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Rudy Paige, Patrick Lambie, De Jager, Jan Serfontein and Siya Kolisi will not be able to beat Argentina?
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Replacements: 16 Lucas Noguera, 17 Juan Pablo Orlandi, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Facundo Isa, 21 Martin Landajo, 22 Santiago Gonzalez Iglesias, 23 Juan Pablo Socino.
