Bok backs key to South Africa chances of beating Wallabies

South Africa’s former golden boot Naas Botha believes the decision-making of the Springbok half-backs will be key to the outcome of Saturday’s Mandela Challenge against Australia at Ellis Park.

Fly-half Botha - a six-time Currie Cup winner with Northern Transvaal who made 28 appearances for the Springboks, scoring 312 Test points - says scrum-half Enrico Januarie and fly-half Andre Pretorius have the ability to influence the result on Saturday.

“We have to make better decisions at nine and 10,” said Botha.

“Before the game in Sydney two weeks ago (which South Africa lost 30-12), there was a lot of talk about our forwards and how they were going to dominate.

“I thought they (the forwards) played quite well, but they never really created decent opportunities for the backs. On Saturday we need to get better ball going forward, and then 9 and 10 need to make the right decisions about how best to use that ball.”

Botha also hopes the players will be allowed to use their initiative.

“In Sydney we went into the match with a ‘plan A’, where the hope was we would dominate up front and kick the ball behind the Australian backs to get them to turn around,” he said.

“When that didn’t work, the guys couldn’t figure out what to do. Jake White (Springbok coach) has picked a new team, with a backline that is full of players with flair. Let’s hope he now allows those flair players a bit more freedom, gives them the opportunity to express themselves.”