The countdown to the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup continues and the excited it beginning to mount ahead of the four cracking games that are lined up for the weekend.

The Springbok’s focus is solely on France, who will be a tough nut to crack at Stade de France and to make matters even more exciting, the iconic 82 000 seater stadium has been sold out.

One aspect of the game that the Springboks have excelled in is their discipline which has been exceptional in the tournament.

The reigning world champions are the only one of the 20 teams that played at the World Cup not to have conceded a single yellow or red game at the tournament to date.

The Boks will once again focus on this, especially with the New Zealander, Ben O’Keefe, having been appointed to ref this game.

Deon Davids - Morgan Piek

The Springboks forwards coach, Deon Davids, said as a squad they have placed a lot of emphasis in their discipline throughout the tournament.

“The referees are professionals and they are experienced in their job. They do everything to the best of their ability to make the right call.

“They also have enough assistance if they are unsure of something. It is difficult to judge and say a ref makes a specific decision as a result of crowd pressure.

“There will be good decisions, and I think there might be decisions that will go the other way.

“That is something we will have to accept and adapt to.

“The only thing we can do is be as clinical and precise in our execution as we can.

“We will try to do that, and we will try to ensure we stay on the right side. But we can expect playing here against the home team, it is going to be a massive atmosphere.

“We are very impressed with the way the team behaved in terms of not conceding yellow cards on the field. Plenty of training has gone into that over the last four years, and it is good to see things paying off,” Davids said.

“But we know the game. Accidents happen quickly. Touch wood, it won’t happen to us going forward.”

Jaco Peyper - Getty

A very big congratulations has to go out to Bloemfontein’s very own Jaco Peyper who has been appointed to officiate the quarter-final between Wales and Argentina in Marseille on Saturday.

Wayne Barnes of England will take the whistle for the match against the All Blacks and Ireland, and Mathieu Raynal of France is in charge of the game between England and Fiji.

Meanwhile, there is a shadow hanging over the Springboks campaign because of the WADA saga which could see the Boks having to make do without the South African flag or national anthem for the quarter-finals.

This comes in the wake of the government’s failure in meeting the deadline to update its anti-doping legislation.

The department has until Friday to make this amendment but it seems almost guaranteed that the deadline will be missed.

Daan Human - Morgan Piek

The scrum coach, Daan Human, said regards of what happens, they will continue to play for South Africa with pride and passion.

“I’m not too sure a hundred per cent what’s happening there, I can’t really comment on it. All I can know is the Springboks players are one hundred per cent focussed on the job, on what needs to be done this week. I don’t think there’s focus on jerseys whatsoever.

“I doesn’t matter in which colour jersey, or a jersey without a flag on or even without the national anthem, I can tell you and I can assure you of one thing, the boys who are here - the 53, our whole squad here who represent South Africa - they represent 60 million people back home and they’re willing to fight for them. I can assure you of that.”

Sunday’s World Cup quarter-final between France and the Springboks in Paris kicks off at 21:00.

Morgan Piek OFM Sport