TWICKENHAM, London -- South Africa vice-captain Schalk Burger is hoping his final crack at the Tiger Woods of rugby Richie McCaw will see him the leave Twickenham with the bragging rights and a place in the final of the Rugby World Cup.

Saturday's semifinal will be McCaw's final match against South Africa. He has lost just six of the 25 times he's faced the Springboks and Burger knows what it feels like to be on the wrong end of the great openside's larceny.

While Burger's international career will continue beyond this World Cup, McCaw, Dan Carter and Conrad Smith are all likely to play their final match for New Zealand -- one way or another -- next week. And Burger has huge respect for McCaw and says they will share a beer afterwards and reminisce on their various contests.

"We have become good mates, played against each other since 2003, and there have been a fair few contests and unfortunately I have been on the losing side of most of them," says Burger. "Let's hope I get some bragging rights tomorrow as it will be the last time we play against each other.

"He has won more tests than I have played so we can't really compare. It is a bit like golfers comparing to Tiger, it's pretty tough.

"Obviously on the field we are equals. We have a bit of a different style. We both have a massive work-rate, often find each other at the bottom of rucks, tackling, ball-carrying, and I always try to make a chat on the field but it is pretty difficult to do but afterwards we'll share a beer and reminisce about days gone by."

The Springboks played golf earlier in the week and met Chelsea on Thursday but hovering all of their attempts at welcome distraction has been Saturday's match. Burger faced the press on Friday alongside captain Fourie du Preez. Both were key members of their 2007 World Cup-winning side but Saturday's match against New Zealand is up there alongside that triumph over England in terms of importance.

"It is a massive game, if not the biggest game of my life and Schalk's life," says Du Preez. "The pressure is still obviously on."

Come Saturday afternoon, the time for talking will be over following a week where plaudits and platitudes have been thrown from one camp to the other. All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said he expects South Africa will head into the game looking to "rip our heads off". Burger straight batted that notion, saying they weren't ready to do that on Friday afternoon, but could get up to that level of physicality "maybe tomorrow."

But the Springbok did agree with his coach Heyneke Meyer's suggestion they are facing the game's greatest side on Saturday. But come kick-off, respect will be put to one side for the sake of a spot in the final.

"Richie McCaw has won more Test matches than I've played almost, so it's pretty hard to compete against guys who never seem to lose," says Burger. "Again, I think they're a great side, but within our team there's quite a lot of belief. We've put them under pressure in the past.

"Tomorrow's a massive occasion so you can never quite precisely prepare how a team's going to react to certain circumstances. Obviously there's a lot of pressure, but up until now I think we've covered every base. We've done everything on our part.

"Now it's up to us as players. We've got to go out there and embrace it. Twickenham is a phenomenal venue and we've got to draw energy. There's going to be a lot of South African support and we've got to try and put them under pressure."