Victorious former Springbok captain Francois Pienaar believes the class of 2015 can overcome the odds stacked against them and win the World Cup.
Pienaar, speaking at Ellis Park on Wednesday at the 20-year anniversary of his Bok team's historic first World Cup triumph, said it is "disingenuous" to compare the current Springbok team to his 1995 side - which were roundly praised for their nation-building victory on the back of the late President Nelson Mandela's support.
While there are some parallels - the class of 2015 are also being written off as Pienaar's men were in '95 - he said the two outfits are worlds apart.
"Teams prepare for World Cups in different ways," he told a media scrum at Ellis Park.
He described the '95 team as "a special class" and admitted to having been "annoyed" when people didn't give them a fare shot at winning the World Cup in 1995.
"The critics were saying our team couldn't go all the way, but the nuclease of that team came from the Transvaal team - 13 of the players in that squad came from Transvaal.
"We [Transvaal] were hugely successful - we won the Currie Cup [twice], we won the first Super 10 competition here [at Ellis park].
"We beat Auckland [in the 1993 Final] and if you look at the names in that Auckland team it is an All Black team. We also made the Final [in 1995] and Queensland beat us with an intercept try.
"That [Transvaal] team was infused by some of the world's greatest players - like Andre Joubert, Joel Stransky, Joost van der Westhuizen, James Small, Mark Andrews, Os du Randt. That team always had a real shot at the title."
He added that you can't recreate that special class and added that the class of 2015 will have to find their own call and their own style.
"Every team has its special mojo, as did John Smit's [World Cup-winning] team in 2007," Pienaar said.
"There [in 2007] the nuclease of the team came from the successful Bulls and Sharks outfits.
"The question is where will our nuclease come from this year? If there is no nuclease, how would the leadership react to that?
"The culture in the [2015] team will be very important.
"We had a culture [in '95] that worked harder than anybody else - [we were] very disciplined and focused on what we were about."
Despite South Africa's poor year-end tour, where they lost to Ireland and Wales last November, and an equally miserable Super Rugby campaign where the Stormers were knocked out at the quarterfinal stage last week, Pienaar believes South Africa "definitely" have a shot at winning the World Cup when it takes place in England in September and October.
"If you look at the talent in this country, it is immense," the 1995 Bok skipper said.
"We have tremendous talent.
"It is how we put that talent together and the culture within that team - they have to get four or five things right."
Pienaar said South African teams thrive on knock-outs matches at major events like the World Cup - where the Boks have a 70 percent success rate.
"We as a country love knock-outs, we are not scared of knock-out matches.
"We have a fairly easy pool. It is going to be who is on form, it is going to be about injuries and if you get to the knock-outs who will handle the pressure, who is going to manage the variables, how would the leadership react.
"Just look at the talent - there are game-breakers, there is power up front and skill at the back.
"We have a real shot at the title."
By Jan de Koning
@King365ed
@rugby365com
