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White banks on Burger to blast Wales
2004 IRB Player of the Year was the missing spark against Pumas in the first half in Buenos Aires
From GAVIN RICH in Cardiff
Springbok coach Jake White has left little doubt that he will be looking to Schalk Burger to provide against Wales at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium tomorrow the ingredient which was missing in the first half against the Pumas.
Burger played only off the bench when the tour opened in Buenos Aires almost two weeks ago, and had to watch as the Pumas came ominously close to putting his teammates under severe pressure in the first half.
Up until the break, the Argentineans gave as good as they got when wrestling for the ball and in their attempt to get their side onto the front-foot.
However, Burger's appearance after the break completely changed the game, and White is quite aware of the dramatic difference that Burger's presence made when it mattered. While agreeing with criticisms of his team's performance by Argentine captain Agustin Pichot in a Welsh newspaper, White said that the Pumas leader had not taken into account the Burger impact.
"He is right when he says our lineouts were not good against Argentina," said White.
"We also did not hit the battle for the ball on the ground with great ferocity.
But then he is also forgetting that he only played against a certain blond-haired flanker for 35 minutes of the game.
Wales have made it clear they want to hit the Boks early in order to get a foothold in the game and to prevent the Boks from dictating terms, and it will be up to Burger to ensure that this does not happen.
Certainly the Argentina side battled to make the same headway in their probes around the fringes once Burger was on, and Burger will be asked to hit the Welsh runners back very firmly in the tackle if they try to use this route at the Millennium Stadium.
Burger's presence on the drive and his allround work-rate will also be crucial to the Boks as they go out to prove they deserve to be bracketed with their great southern rivals in the top two of world rugby two years out from the next World Cup.
While there can be no doubt that the Boks are a lot more respected in the northern hemisphere than they have been for a while, they have been almost lost in the large shadow cast over all things related to rugby in this part of the world by the touring All Blacks.
The Kiwis hammered both Ireland and Wales with two completely different teams, something which takes some doing, even at this time when it appears the north has slipped ever so slightly in relation to the south in the world rugby pecking order.
Although Bok coach Jake White says he is unconcerned with comparisons with the All Blacks at this stage, he must be just a little bit irked though by the inferences in some sections of the British media that New Zealand have the two best teams on the planet - their first team and their second choice team.
A good 80 minute showing tomorrow, as opposed to the 40 minute one they produced in Buenos Aires, will be a first step to disproving this theory.
Springboks: Percy Montgomery, Conrad Jantjes, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Meyer Bosman, Michael Claassens, Jacques Cronje, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, CJ van der Linde, John Smit (captain), Lawrence Sephaka.
Wales: Lee Byrne, Dafydd James, Gareth Thomas, Sonny Parker, Shane Williams, Stephen Jones, Gareth Cooper, Michael Owen, Martyn Williams, Colin Charvis), Robert Sidoli, Luke Charteris, Chris Horsman, Rhys Thomas), Duncan Jones.
Referee: Stuart Dickinson (Australia). Kick-off: 5pm.
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