Jones' influence noted - Matfield
Springbok vice captain Victor Matfield admits Japan coach Eddie Jones adds another dimension to their World Cup opener this weekend.
Jones previously coached Australia and was assistant coach to Jake White when the Springboks won the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Considering his involvement, Jones has a fair understanding of the way the Boks will intend to play.
However Matfield believes that the Boks also have a inside-look on Jones' rugby philisophies, as Fourie du Preez has played underneath the Japanese coach at his Tokyo based club Suntory Sungoliath over the past two seasons.
"I think we probably know more about them than Eddie knows about us," Matfield said after the Springbok team announcement this week.
"With Fourie playing with him for two years at Suntory we've got quite a good knowledge of how he thinks about the game. But again I think we can't focus on them, we can only focus on what we want to do and how things are in place.
"We've really trained hard and we want to go out there, make a statement and show what we can do as a team," Matfield said.
The Boks face Japan on Saturday in their opening pool B clash. Kickoff is at 17h45.