One day closer to Saturday.

Fingernail count – zero.

If the Springboks are going to beat the English, we’re going to have to play to our strengths. As the stats make clear, that would be our defence, and a bruising physicality that revels in the tight exchanges and big hits.

The Rugby World Cup official YouTube channel didn’t feature any of our tackles in their compilation video of the tournament’s biggest hits, but I like to think we’re saving the best for last.

At this stage, it’s clear that Rassie Erasmus has his strongest team locked in, but that doesn’t mean he can’t spring a last-minute surprise.

Whilst many are calling for Willie le Roux’s head (he has had a torrid World Cup, to put it mildly), the idea of making drastic changes to the backline’s makeup at such a late stage seems unwise.

One area he could bulk up on brute strength is in the hooker position, points out Sport24’s Rob Houwing, offering this analysis:

Erasmus is not incapable of the occasional surprise in selection – sometimes either because he feels “rotation” is prudent at a particular time, or as he makes some allowance for the horses-for-courses principle.

So just one curveball possibility is the recall of the squad’s brawniest hooker, Malcolm Marx, to the starting mix ahead of incumbent Bongi Mbonambi…

There is desperately little difference between them in playing standards – read: mutually, pleasingly high – at present…

What Erasmus really needs to decide is which way around he believes he can get the best out of both Mbonambi and Marx on Saturday: that said, the issue is a bit of a toss-up considering both men’s potential, frankly, in any period of the contest. Erasmus may be swayed by pure gut feel.

They are, after all, slightly different in make-up, with Mbonambi (106kg, 1.76m) arguably having an edge in mobility and Marx being more of a “door-stopper” in contact situations with his larger, 114kg and 1.88m proportions.

What hasn’t been discussed above is our success in lineouts at the World Cup, with a single error against Wales our only loss on our own throw the entire tournament.

Marx may offer more physicality, and he can operate as an extra loose forward in terms of forcing turnovers at the breakdown, but his lineout throws have been justifiably criticised by many over the past few years.

There’s also the added bonus of having Marx on the bench as part of the ‘Bomb Squad’, the name given to our superb substitute bench.

The Makazole Mapimpi false flag aside (another painful attempt to point at disharmony between the squad’s black and white players that fell flat), the ‘Bomb Squad’ has been widely praised, including by the international press.

Here’s the Telegraph with the headline ‘South Africa’s ‘Bomb Squad’ primed for detonation in World Cup final’:

They could hold the key to the game. With the Springboks’ attack largely dependent on moments of magic from individuals such as Cheslin Kolbe, Willie le Roux or Damian de Allende – who scored a fine solo try against Wales – it is the forwards to whom South Africa will look. They want to nullify England, stop them in their tracks, squeeze the life out of them.

Then let the replacements come in to finish the job. “The Bomb Squad brought a big impact into the second half, getting dominance at scrum time and putting the opposition ball under pressure,” Kitshoff noted…

Whether England can defuse the Boks before the Bomb Squad arrive to defuse them could decide the game.

Around 75 hours until kick-off.

Try and enjoy the week – here’s some inspiration:

[sources:sport24&telegraph]