Rugby Classic: Montgomery — South Africa have to improve

Percy Montgomery says South Africa will need to up their game when they take on Rugby Classic surprise package USA tomorrow night.

The World Cup-winning Springbok full-back, with 102 caps and 893 international points under his belt, hadn’t played since last year’s Classic — and admitted it took him a little while to get up to speed during the 15-0 win over France on Monday night.

Scoreless at half-time, South Africa ground out the win to set up a semi-final against USA, who upset Australia 17-12.

Either the Lions or Argentina, who play tonight, await in the final.

Montgomery told the Bermuda Sun: “There was a bit of running out there, right?

“I haven’t kicked a ball since I was here last in Bermuda, so it was my first little run.

“Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and put in a better performance against the US.

“It was slippery out there, though, and difficult for both teams.

“We kept possession better in the second half and kicked more into the corners. But it’s always tough out there when you don’t play anymore. I haven’t kicked a ball since last November so I was a bit rusty but hopefully I’ll improve.”

For the euphoric Eagles, beating the Aussies was a Classic milestone in the game of the tournament so far. Centre Paul Emerick told the Sun Australia underestimated them: “The boys really ground that out. We just kept possession — you could see the frustration in the Aussies at the end there. 

“A win’s a win, though and we did a good job.

“Maybe they overlooked us, I don’t know — but that’s Australia’s fault.

“We knew we were going to play hard and keep possession and that’s what we did, or at least tried to.

“We did a good job of getting our subs on and tactically we were good.

“We’ll go back, analyse a few things and try to play the same game.”