"To the brave go the spoils of war," is South Africa Rugby World Cup-winner Joel Stransky's assessment of Japan's stunning win over the Springboks. But now comes the reaction, and the fly-half great wants the Boks to find some "mongrel" as they seek to get their tournament bid back on track against Samoa on Saturday.

As Stransky -- the man who kicked the winning drop goal for South Africa in their iconic 1995 World Cup triumph -- picks over the bones of the biggest upset in World Cup history, he finds solace in the African Rooibos tea in a café in Chiswick, west London. But four days on from what South Africans hope will later be seen as the nadir of their World Cup, there is still frustration. Not only frustration at South Africa being on the end of a monumental upset but also at their approach and tactics.

He pauses before evaluating the Boks' shortcomings -- he is a naturally optimistic figure -- but even when attempting a half-full evaluation of where they stand at present, there is almost irritation as he assesses their defeat and weighs up how they'll perform in the rest of the pool stages.

"Japan's win was one of the great upsets in the history of sport," Stransky tells ESPN. "Eddie Jones and the Japanese team had a great strategy and executed their plan superbly. As good as they were, we were bad. We looked like a team that had a blunt attack. We looked like a bunch of old, injured guys.

Handre Pollard in action for the Bulls© Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images

"It doesn't matter what I think of the squad, but it's what Heyneke Meyer thinks of the squad. There are a lot of great players in the squad, some of them experienced. But some of them are old and if we are being brutally honest some of them are over the hill; but even then they can still step up.

"I do think we can come back from this and there's a part of me that thinks we'll beat Samoa, Scotland and the USA. There's still a chance we'll win the group. But having said that if we get to the knockout stages we might end up playing England and with a bunch of players battling the slippery slope of old age and coming back from injuries, I have my doubts over whether they can go on."

Inevitably with the quick-paced nature of the World Cup, a team's shortcomings are constantly compared to those of other contenders. What was striking about South Africa's shortcomings against Japan was their inability to win the arm-wrestle aspects of the game.

"We lack a sharp object to create the opportunity like Sonny Bill [Williams] did for the All Blacks against Argentina," Stransky says. "I just think we don't have a real spearheaded, cutthroat mongrel to go in there and dominate the contact situation in the way South Africa have done in the past, and use that as a platform for attack. We don't scrum well enough; we're not physical enough at the breakdown."

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Stransky watched Sonny Bill's impact for the All Blacks against Argentina on Sunday, and says that role of a game-changer from the bench is something the Boks lack. The closest the Boks had against Japan was their replacement fly-half Handre Pollard. He starts against Samoa on Saturday but Stransky, if he had a say in selection, would shoehorn Pollard and Patrick Lambie into the same side.

"I think they're both unbelievable players and I'd have both in my starting line-up with Willie le Roux on the bench," Stransky says. "I'd have Pat Lambie at full-back and Handre Pollard at ten. Pollard's so good, even in that 20 minutes against Japan he looked like Sonny Bill Williams. He was class: he came on, he was direct, played flatter and got to the gain line."

© Shaun Botterill/Allsport

Stransky sees the benefit in keeping faith with the elder statesmen in the side as South Africa, if they are to make the knockout stages, need them "in top form and to get there, they need to play".

South Africa will be expecting a backlash from their rugby side on Saturday. Even the country's sports minister has weighed in, warning the side will go back as a team of "losers" if they lose to Samoa. Such interjections are hardly helpful but Stransky has faith in the side. For all their faults against Japan, the eternal optimist shines through as the interview comes to a close and we go off to pick through Chiswick's bike shops.

"I do think we'll win against Samoa," Stransky says. "The downside for the Boks is USA, Scotland and Samoa will have gained confidence from the Japan defeat. Before the World Cup they'd have thought they had a small chance of beating the Boks, but now they'll look at it and think if Japan can knock them over then so can we.

"That confidence will inspire them. Hopefully by the time we play the USA we are back on the winning road, but they [Samoa] will believe they can beat us and that will change things a little. It's going to be tight and close, but we have such talent there that if we get the combinations right, capitalise on opportunities, then we should beat them all."