Then there were four. New Zealand, Wales, France and Australia will thrash it out for this year’s World Cup. Coincidentally, these are the same teams that contested the semi-finals in the inaugural competition in 1987. The winners then were New Zealand. History and form seem to be very much on their side.

After victory against Gloucester on Saturday afternoon, nothing could have ruined my weekend more than a Springbok defeat against the Aussies.

I had a school mate over for the game and we prepared as any hot blooded Springbok fan would, with an early morning traditional South African ‘farmhouse’ breakfast. For those that don’t know this is considered the biggest ‘brekkie’ in the world. 350g rump steak, two eggs, a few rashers of bacon, two pork sausages (usually a ’boerewors’ sausage - but being in the UK we needed to improvise) a portion of chips, fried tomato and two slices of toast.

It comes highly recommended by the Sale conditioning staff! This patriotic preparation deserved more than what turned into a devastating loss. Four years of waiting, for nothing. England fans, I’m sure, will sympathise with me.

The reason that I feel so cheated is because I was led to believe that the Springboks' past four years of underachieving would have no bearing come World cup time. The defeats we suffered the past four years were all seen as ‘learning curves’ on our way to World cup glory. However, after returning trophy-less, all they’re shown to be are excuses for poor performance.

Much like England, a certain question needs to be asked. Does the end justify the means? Of course it does, IF you win the World Cup. However IF you do not, then the means matters greatly.

A winning culture is determined by how a team performs on a consistent basis. There are no excuses and losing is not acceptable, no matter what tournament awaits. Each game is about a nation’s pride. The ‘means’ should not be negotiable but merely a continuation of excellence carried through into a World cup year.

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