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For a match they were supposed to "smash" us in they are certainly talking it up after the event!
As good as it was, I didn't think it was that great a win, there was always time for them to score the winning try.
A good message though which was previously mentioned by John Mitchell, at this level it really is about the "top four inches".
White tells his Springboks: you will win the World Cup
Monday, June 18, 2007
South African television has captured fascinating footage of Springboks coach Jake White telling his troops they have shown they'll win the Rugby World Cup in rallying to beat Australia 22-19 in Cape Town on Saturday.
Huddled together in the victorious dressing room, White looked into his players' eyes and told them next week's Tri Nations Test against the All Blacks was what they were born for.
It was dramatic stuff and gave a passionate insight into what playing for the Springboks means to South Africans.
"At 16-10, I could see in your eyes that you actually believed you could win this game. I just said to someone after the game, 'That's how you win a World Cup'," White told All Out Rugby today.
"Put that into your memory bank. That's how you win a World Cup.
"You're going to be against the wall sometimes and you have to look at each other and say 'listen, we can pull this one out'.
"Honestly, I give you my word, you wouldn't have won that game four years ago. I promise you. So well done to you guys. I'm really proud of you.
"This is hard. This is Test rugby guys. This is as hard as it gets.
"Those guys have won two World Cups and now the momentum's broken. Now they haven't won a game for eight years in South Africa.
"So I want you to understand this is a good team (we have). This is a team that is going to win the World Cup.
"I'm not just saying that to win you over. You've just come back from 16-10 down to win the Test match. You can't coach that. Where is the manual that coaches you that? Tell me.
"How do you come back with eight minutes to go and then you get two drop kicks and then you score in the last minute? Who coaches you that?
"That is what I want you to believe. As soon as you decide as a group that you can do it, then it becomes easy.
"I want you to compliment yourselves. It was unbelievable, but I never doubted you.
"You've got the All Blacks next week. Now it gets even harder, but we get born to play rugby against New Zealand. That's why we get born in this country."
White's belief is backed up by the entire country. Everyone in rugby-mad South Africa believes the Springboks will win the World Cup in France in October.
But Joel Stransky, a hero of the Springboks' 1995 World Cup triumph in South Africa, said it would be foolish to write off the Wallabies, especially as they boast the most organised and effective defence in the business.
"This is a team with a bunch of experienced players and on the day if they can find a front row that can scrum a little and hold their own, they'll be very tough to beat," Stransky said.
"It was interesting to watch them defend as well because they defended pretty much like we've defended the last two years.
"The wingers were up quite quickly, forcing us to carry the ball into the traffic, two-on-one tackles and they won the contact situation."
AAP