South African machine ready to rumble

In an ominous warning to the other teams at Rugby World Cup 2011, South Africa fly half Butch James says the mood in the squad reminds him of their victorious campaign in France four years ago.

Although many of the players' body clocks may still be somewhere over the Indian Ocean, James said their minds were already in sync and focused on the task at hand.

"It feels pretty similar (to 2007), the same vibe among the team," James told a news conference at the team's Wellington hotel on Tuesday.

"The guys are excited and have got that quiet belief deep inside of going all the way - just like we did in 2007."

He said the team have been busting to get their campaign started for the past two weeks and are keenly looking forward to Sunday's Pool D opener against Wales at Wellington Regional Stadium.

Not even the news that powerful lock Bakkies Botha could miss the match because of an ankle injury has shaken the Springboks' resolve.

Changing plans

Number 8 Pierre Spies said if Botha is forced out by Achilles tendinosis, Danie Rossouw would probably take his place and it would be business as usual.

"Danie is very similar to Bakkies, so we'll just stick to the way we play, keep going with it and we won't change our plans," Spies said.

In 2007 South Africa stuck to a basic but effective game plan of bludgeoning opponents with a giant forward pack before launching pin-point bombing raids to force mistakes that their goalkickers could capitalise on.

In 2011 their forwards are just as big and the kickers just as accurate, which suggests few changes to that successful formula.

Centre Jaque Fourie, another 2007 Cup winner, indicated that South Africa won't be changing what has worked in the past.

New approach

Although they've noticed a change in the way Wales play, he is confident South Africa can deal with that and rumble on.

"They've (Wales) got a new approach, they've got a new defensive system as well - they're rushing up quite quickly and putting teams under pressure and they're putting a lot of heat on the rucks," he said.

"We just need to stick to what's been working for us and we need to do that even better. We just need to handle that rush defence and just get quick ball and go forward.

"We're not going to do anything different to what we've done for the past four years."