Warren Gatland’s men had already secured their spot in the quarter-finals before they were edged out 15-6 by Australia in their final pool fixture. The defeat means Wales finished second behind the Wallabies and now face a crunch World Cup quarter-final against South Africa on Saturday.
The Springboks’ first-round defeat to Japan only served to kickstart their tournament, as they went on to record three straight wins against Samoa, Scotland and the USA. But McBryde thinks their gruelling set of fixtures will prepare them for what is to come.
He said: “We have been asked questions by the opposition in both attack and defence. Every time we’ve come away from a match, we’ve known the areas we have to work on. We’ve shown deficiencies in our play and got better as we go on. There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be the case again.
“When we look back at the autumn series, historically we get better as we go on. By the fourth match we’re always in a better place. That’s when we normally get our scalp.
“That was our fourth game against Australia on Saturday and we pushed them all the way. As we saw four years ago, we kept getting stronger and stronger in the World Cup, so if we can continue to build on our performances, we’re going to be in a much better place. It’s about managing the players this week so we’re battle hardened, not battle weary and have enough energy in the tank. It’s going to be a brutal encounter on Saturday.”
South Africa finished top of Pool B after they bounced back from their first-round fright with three bonus-point wins. And McBryde is expecting the physicality to go up a notch at Rugby HQ on Saturday.
He said: “Their game against Samoa was a brutal encounter in regard to the collisions. A lot of their game is based on those collisions and getting over the gain-line, running hard as forwards and an exceptionally strong set-piece.
“The challenge is blatantly obvious up front. They have also got a excellent kicking game and are very strong in the air. They have got a strong off-loading game too when they choose to. They do everything at pace. It’s about matching them at that initial gain-line challenge. I think we know what’s ahead of us.
“Keeping discipline is key. Out in Nelspruit last year, we were in a good position and we had a couple of yellow cards against us. In the autumn, they weren’t at their strongest, we know they weren’t fielding the regular side we are used to seeing.”
