Boks urged to close ranks

‘Senior players need to turn things around’

[caption id="attachment_101592" align="alignright" width="205"] SCHALK BURGER[/caption]

SPRINGBOK great Schalk Burger has called on his teammates to “write off” their stunning World Cup defeat by Japan, while there have been calls for coach Heyneke Meyer to be axed.

“We need to write it off and move forward as quickly as possible,” Burger said as the South Africans moved base to prepare for their game against Samoa on Saturday.

Some media reports have predicted that Bok heads will roll, while trade union federation Cosatu has insisted that Meyer be fired because he relied too much on white players.

The team was expected to close ranks, however, for the rest of the World Cup.

Veteran loose forward Burger, 32, was in the back-row for the 34-32 defeat to Japan in Brighton, the biggest upset in World Cup histor y.

South Africa will be in huge trouble in Pool B if they do not beat Samoa in Birmingham on Saturday.

Burger said South Africa had to analyse and fix what went wrong so the team can compete against Samoa.

“The first thing to understand is why we lost, why Japan put us under so much pressure,” he said.

“As soon as we understand what the weaknesses are that were exposed in that game, we can move forward. That must happen fast.”

Samoa opened their World Cup campaign with a 25-16 win over the United States on Sunday. – AFP