South Africa and Samoa have never failed to progress to the knockout phase in the previous Rugby World Cups they have contested. That record will come to an end at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane tonight, 1 November.
Only the winner of this physical encounter will keep their Rugby World Cup dream alive, joining England in the quarter finals.
Samoa are no strangers to causing upsets, having twice beaten Wales on home soil in previous Tournaments, in their record of two quarter final and one quarter final playoff appearances.
Form Guide
Samoa have shown that they are not here merely to make up the numbers with impressive opening victories over Uruguay (60-13) and Georgia (46-9), scoring 16 tries in the process and conceding only two.
However it was the performance of Samoa to lead England 10-0 in Melbourne on the strength of 90 percent possession that really made the world sit up and take notice.
Samoa actually led 22-20 just after the hour mark before England scored three late tries to escape with a victory that leaves them favourites to win Pool C.
South Africa meanwhile will be looking for an much improved performance from their last match when they struggled to overcome a spirited and committed Georgia at Aussie Stadium, eventually emerging the victors 46-19.
Before that South Africa, just as Samoa, gave England a real test before going down 25-6 in their much hyped clash of the heavyweights in Perth two weeks ago, having opened their campaign for a second title with a 12 try 72-6 defeat of Uruguay.
Previous meetings
South Africa and Samoa have met three times before with the Springboks holding a 100 percent record against the Pacific Island nation, the closest result being a 42-14 victory in the quarter finals of Rugby World Cup 1999.
Ins and Outs
Springbok coach Rudolf Straeuli has made 10 changes to the starting line up from their 46-19 defeat of Georgia, with 20 year old fly half Derick Hougaard the only player retained in the back line.
Hougaard, who only started his first Test against Georgia, has been preferred to the more experienced Louis Koen at fly half and will retain the kicking duties.
In other backline changes, Joost van der Westhuizen returns at scrum half, Thinus Delport and Ashwin Willemse are on the wings, De Wet Barry and Jorrie Muller in the centres and Jaco van der Westhuyzen at full back.
In the forwards Joe van Niekerk switches from number 8 to flanker with captain Corne Krige and Juan Smith coming into the back row. Christo Bezuidenhout reclaims the loose head prop and Victor Matfield returns in the second row.
Samoa has named Romi Ropati to replace the injured Terry Fanolua in the centres in the only change to the starting side.
It will be Ropati's first match at RWC 2003 after failing to make the 22 in any of the first three matches. He has plenty of experience, having represented the Otago Highlanders in Super 12.
Hooker Tamato Leupolu comes onto the bench at the expense of prop Simon Lemalu.
Key Players
Hougaard is facing the biggest challenge of his fledgling career and how he performs in this match will be key for South Africa, not least with his kicking as his opposite number Earl Va’a has consistently performed at a high standard in the Tournament.
Springbok captain van der Westhuizen faces his final testmatch if South Africa lose. The experienced scrum half is due to retire after the Tournament and will help Hougaard in their first start together as the half back combination.
The battle for supremacy in the forwards will be an interesting one with van Niekerk and Krige in the back row for South Africa and the impressive captain Semo Sititi and Maurie Fa’asavalu lining up at the rear of the Samoan scrum.
Samoa will hope to use the pace of their backs to good use with the likes of Brian Lima, playing in his fourth Rugby World Cup making a record 16th consecutive Tournament appearance, and wing Sailosi Tagicakibau having been impressive.
What it means
Put simply the winner of this match will qualify for the quarter finals, where Tournament favourites New Zealand await them, while the other is left to ponder what might have been and prepare for their flight home.
If the match was to end in only the second draw in RWC history South Africa would progress because they have a marginally better points difference (+3) than the Samoans.
What they said
South Africa captain Krige on whether the Samoans can repeat their performance against England:
“I think they can. We need a massive challenge at this stage of the competition. They will come out firing, so yes, I think they can produce it for two games in a row.”
On whether he expected the Samoa match to be such an important one:
“It was always expected that this match would be a massive one. In our preparation we knew it might come down to beating Samoa if we didn’t beat England, so we always knew it was going to be big and we weren’t surprised by the way they played.”
Samoa assistant coach Michael Jones on their preparations for this game:
“That [England] was the biggest game of our lives up to now. But in the scheme of things this [South Africa] is the biggest game of our lives now.”
Match details
South Africa v Samoa
Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Kick off: 17:30 local time
Match Officials:
Referee: Chris White (England)
Touch judges: Alan Lewis (Ireland)
Television match official: Joel Dume (France)