England legend Mike Tindall blasts South Africa Springboks team ahead of Rugby World Cup showdown
Despite Steve Borthwick’s team becoming unbeaten in five straight games since the competition began, it is widely anticipated that England will lose to South Africa.
But Tindall doesn’t mince words in his evaluation of the Springboks’ most recent 29-28 victory against Les Bleus, showing that he isn’t entirely convinced that they are everything they’re made out to be.
He admitted to The Good, The Bad, and The Rugby that “I was more emotional about that game than the English game.” “I simply so much wanted France to advance to their rightful position. They were by much the superior squad in the game, and they deserved to win.
“South Africa lost in every statistic, but they had three photos from improperly handled box kicks. Even though they didn’t produce anything, South Africa always does that throughout World Cups.
‘It would be a disgrace if South Africa won the World Cup,’ I declared in 2019, and they did. The game should have been won by France if you consider everything.
After the quarterfinal victory over Fiji, England coach Borthwick praised his team’s big-game mentality and predicted that they would once more be ‘written off’ against the Springboks. However, Tindall has made a distinction between knockout rugby and all other variations of the sport, indicating that the Red Rose may still pull off a surprise at Stade de France.
“The biggest factor in this is that you’re now in semi-final rugby, and what that does for the pressure levels,” he said. Rugby knockouts are the only time you have to believe in them. It’s not like watching a fall television series.
“There is only one game, it lasts for 80 minutes, and only a few choices need to be made. Although [England] will occasionally adopt a siege mentality, it all depends on their objectives. Why can’t we play one game in this semifinal, like South Africa did?
