Ask Siya Kolisi about pressure, and marvel at the answer.
The South Africa captain will tell you that Test rugby is not pressure; that rugby is a privilege and an opportunity.
The Zwide-born flanker, South Africa’s first black captain, who lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019, will tell you that pressure is wondering where your next meal will come from; that pressure is wondering where clean water will come from.
That is real pressure. For Kolisi and a number of other Springboks now, the biggest matches in the Rugby World Cup are blessings. They are to be embraced and enjoyed.
That represents an overwhelming advantage for South Africa. When they get into these high-stakes games, they think about where they have come from, and where they are trying to get to. And it buoys them up.
Youngsters in South Africa will sit there and see Springboks who grew up in the same circumstances.
Kolisi is one of the finest men ever to play international rugby. He already hit legend status when he lifted the World Cup in Japan four years ago. If he were to lift the cup again now, well, who knows what the level above legend is, but that is the category he would reach. Maybe they would have to create a whole new term just for him.
Millions of kids will be in townships and villages back home watching the Springboks this weekend, and now they can do so thinking, ‘If Siya can do it, if Lukhanyo Am can do it, if Canan Moodie can do it, so can I’.
Youngsters in South Africa will sit there and see Springboks who grew up in the same circumstances as themselves, but who were also able to find a path to glory.
That path is there for players of tomorrow now, too, and all because men like Kolisi broke down massive barriers.
Director of rugby Rassie Erasmus has masterminded everything good about South Africa for years now.
England have to be aware of all that today, and they have to find a way to handle it and counter it.
England’s pack will have to find a way to put their team on the front foot, punch holes across the gainline and deliver good, quick ball.
Ben Earl will be one of the key men in that regard. The Saracens star has enjoyed an incredible turnaround from the Six Nations, where he could not get a look-in, to this tournament, where he has been a central figure.
Now, though, he will have to step it up again. His team-mates are going to look to him to get England on the front foot, and he’s going to have to deliver.
If England can start to win a series of mini-battles, then put some points on the board, pressure can do weird things to teams, especially in a World Cup semi-final.
England have a chance, but to realise their opportunity they will have to be almost flawless in everything they do.
