Less is more for Samoans

Rugby World Cup/Pool C: Samoa's coach John Boe said yesterday he had not looked at the South African line-up to face his side in tomorrow's do-or-die World Cup Pool C match, adding that he believed too much emphasis is placed on analysis and that his side did not have the resources for such an endeavour.

Indeed, so relaxed is Boe ahead of the crunch game that he had to turn to forwards coach Michael Jones for news of the Springboks side. "They've changed a couple of props and Derick Hougaard's playing flyhalf I think," Jones said.

Samoa's attitude is in contrast to the bigger nations, who would have organised individual video analysis sessions for each of the opposing 22.

"We haven't got the resources for that and, to be honest,I think coaches can go too far looking at the opposition," said Boe. "Sometimes you forget to impart your own game plan to your own people - it simplifies things for our players if we concentrate on what we have to do."

Samoa will be without winger Ron Fanuatanu, who has gone home injured, and centre Terry Fanolua, who has a broken thumb. Lome Fa'atau starts on the right wing with uncapped Romi Ropati replacing Fanolua at outside centre.

Samoa toured South Africa earlier this year and Boe said the tour was an enormous help to his players, who have been starved of top-level competition, but argued South Africa would not have learned much about his side.

"We don't know what we are going to do ourselves half the time so I don't think it will help them too much," he said.

Jones added that the bulk of the current Samoan pack were on duty during that tour and that the team's forward play had developed enormously over the last couple of years.

"We have worked really hard on it not just technically but in identifying the players who can do a job," he said. "It's actually quite a seasoned pack, it's taken shape well. It's all been towards peaking at the right time and I'm liking what I'm seeing."

Springboks captain Corne Krige concurred with Jones and dismissed any notion of the Samoan scrummage being a weakness next Saturday.

"I think that at the end of (Samoa's) game (against England) on Sunday, was only when England started to open them up and take them apart in the scrum, so maybe it's a bit harsh to say that of them," he said of the perception that the Samoan scrum was fragile.

"If they play the first 60 minutes like they did on the weekend, then it will be a great game. It was always expected that this would be a massive game. In our preparation, we knew it might come down to beating Samoa if we didn't beat England, so we always knew it was going to be big," he said.

Meanwhile, team-mate Joost van der Westhuizen is comfortable with the selection of Derick Hougaard as his half-back partner for the match.

Coach Rudolf Straeuli has handed Hougaard the number 10 jersey, above Louis Koen. "Both players are great flyhalves," van der Westhuizen said.

SAMOA: T Vili; L Fa'atau, R Ropati, B Lima, S Tagicakibau; E Va'a, S So'oialo; K Lealamanua, J Meredith, J Tomuli, O Palepoi, L Lafaiali'i, P Poulus, M Fa'asavalu, S Sititi (captain). Replacements: M Schwalger, T Leupolu, K Viliamu, D Tuiavi'i, D Tyrell, D Rasmussen, D Feaunati.

SOUTH AFRICA: J van der Westhuyzen; A Willemse, J Muller, D Barry, T Delport; D Hougaard, J van der Westhuizen; C Bezuidenhoudt, J Smit, F Rautenbach, B Botha, V Matfield, C Krige (captain), J van Niekerk, J Smith. Replacements: D Coetzee, R Bands, D Rossouw, S Burger, N de Kock, L Koen, J Fourie.

South AfricavSamoa

Brisbane, Saturday, 7.0 a.m.