Boks have firepower to blast away Dragons

FRANS Steyn's withdrawal might have hogged the spotlight, but there is some rugby that still needs to be played.

Warren Gatland has an unspeakably atrocious record against southern hemisphere sides and that will be the first thing he will need to address.

However, he will be up against a Springbok side tomorrow at King's Park that often boxes itself out of corners.

If there is something Heyneke Meyer absolutely thrives on, it is battling his way out of adversity.

At his disposal is a team that is willing to walk through walls and jump through hoops for him.

The Welsh Dragons' fire has often been hot, but has not been able to generate the requisite heat to singe the Springboks. As experienced as the Welsh side are, the Boks seem to have too much firepower for the visitors.

The Springboks had many joints that needed oiling after their rusty start against the World 15, and if there is something they can ill-afford, it is playing catch-up rugby.

The Welsh are the closest thing the northern hemisphere has in terms of capitalising on broken play and, with the diminutive Liam Williams at fullback, they are well-placed to shock the Boks should they pitch up in body but not in mind. Slight inconsistency plagued the Springboks last year, but they did not string two indifferent starts together.

Should the Welsh not get their act together, they could be on the receiving end of a thrashing. The Boks showed what they are capable of when they get off to flying starts, but they also proved to be adept at pacing themselves before exploding in the last quarter. They also showed a propensity for falling asleep when they started well.

In the Six Nations, the Welsh showed they are a team that plays to the final whistle. Fighting spirit is something the Welsh have in massive doses, but belief in terms of seeing through tight games against southern hemisphere teams, not so much.

The scrum is an area the Boks will have to improve on massively, even though they have often dominated the Welsh at contact points. Carl Hayman and Sona Taumalolo were a tough proposition and gave the Boks a thorough workout, but Gethin Jenkins and looming test centurion Adam Jones have always felt at home in South Africa.

The two, along with Matthew Rees who is on the bench, were a stabilising influence after Tendai Mtawarira destroyed Phil Vickery in the first test of the British and Irish Lions series in 2009.

Captain Alun-Wyn Jones has not lost a game as Welsh captain, but he knows what lies in wait for his troops, as he also has a lineout battle on his hands with Victor Matfield and Bismarck du Plessis. Gurthrö Steenkamp, who will be earning his 50th cap, is also a formidable piano-shifter along with Jannie du Plessis.

"There was a whole lot of Welsh representation in the victorious British and Irish Lions series and individually we can take that into the game, but doing so as a whole is a dangerous thing to do. If we can bring together our individual successes, then we could be where we want to be," Jones said. - Khanyiso Tshwaku