Odwa and Akona Ndungane preview South Africa’s Rugby World Cup quarterfinal blockbuster with France in Paris on Sunday.
Odwa
“This will be the game of the weekend, the current champs playing France. Apparently it’s already a sold out stadium. It’s quite a tough game to call, it’s evenly balanced between both sides where we rely a lot on our forward pack. And we’ve seen in the last games that this French forward pack can really stand up and front up to the Boks, so they’ll be fairly confident.
“France might be missing their captain, Antoine Dupont. He started training this week but I doubt he’ll be ready to face the Boks. Even if he doesn’t play, I still think the French will be very difficult to play. But I believe with our forward pack and the bench that we have, we should be able to beat France.
“I don’t think we’ll see many tries. I think the Boks will be able to win this by six-points.
“Let’s go Boks!”
Akona
“For me, the World Cup is starting this weekend. We’re at the business end. Eight teams left in the tournament and I think it’s the best eight teams in the world currently.
“Obviously France hosting the Springboks is the match if the weekend. No 2 vs. No 3. France are playing very well. And Rassie [Erasmus} and Jacques [Nienaber] are playing mind games, not announcing the Bok team until Friday. So those mind games have started.
“That’s the beauty of what the playoffs bring. It should be a very tough game, both teams have very physical forwards that like to dominate. But I still believe that the Springboks have what it takes to beat the French, especially now with Handre Pollard back in the team.
“We owe them one because they beat us last year in France. This one will be huge, I think the Springboks will take this by six-points.”
