South Africa

Pdv content with Bok RWC draw

Friday, March 13 Springbok coach Peter de Villiers says he is satisfied with the Rugby World Cup 2011 match schedule that was announced in New Zealand on Wednesday night.

The Springboks will play their Rugby World Cup 2011 matches exclusively in Wellington and the Auckland area. South Africa kick off their tournament against Wales at the Westpac Stadium in Wellington on Sunday, September 11, two days after hosts New Zealand open the tournament against Tonga at Eden Park in Auckland.

The Springboks stay in Wellington for their second Pool D match against Fiji on Saturday, September 17 before moving to the top of the North Island. They play an Africa Qualifier at the North Harbour Stadium on Thursday, September 22 and complete pool play at the same venue against the Oceania qualifier - likely to be Samoa - on Friday, September 30.

The top two teams from Pool D return to Wellington for the quarter-finals on the weekend of October 8/9 with the semi-finals taking place at Eden Park, Auckland a week later and the final at the same venue on October 23.

"Being based on the North Island for the entire tournament will be very convenient,” De Villiers said.

“Our Players are very familiar with Wellington and Auckland because they play there so often in the Super 14 and Tri-Nations. They are also very familiar with those two cities in terms of training fields, gyms, hotels, leisure activities and other infrastructure. The North Harbour stadium will be new to us but we will make sure that we check it out in advance of the tournament.

With regard to the Springbok’s opposition De Villiers said: "There are no easy World Cup matches as we saw in 2007. Wales have improved greatly over the past few years and we can expect them to get even better over the next two seasons, so it is going to be a very tough opening match. Fiji are also going to be difficult opponents as many of their players ply their rugby trade in New Zealand and it will be like a home game for them.

“With an Oceania qualifier still outstanding it is quite likely that we will have Samoa in our Pool again, which will also be a tough one. For the first time in our World Cup participation since 1995 we will play another African team in the Pool phase, which will be challenging," De Villiers added.

The 48 tournament matches are scheduled across 13 venues in 13 cities: Auckland, North Shore, Whangarei, Hamilton, Rotorua, New Plymouth, Napier, Palmerston North, Wellington, Nelson, Christchurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill.

Rugby World Cup (RWCL) Chairman, Bernard Lapasset, said: “The sporting world is awaiting with great excitement the next chapter in Rugby World Cup history and we are delighted that New Zealand, a country so rich in Rugby heritage and tradition, is the host of Rugby World Cup 2011.

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