Former South African flyhalf Joel Stransky expects drop goals to play a key role in the knockout stages of the 2015 World Cup, even though there were just three kicked during the pool stages.

Stransky kicked South African to their first ever World Cup in 1995, kicking two drop goals and three penalty goals in the 15-12 victory over New Zealand in the final.

He said he expected the tries to dry up in the backend of the tournament.

“The accumulation of points comes in the big games, in the pool stages teams are still playing to score tries,” Stransky said. “They are keeping the ball in hand and there is a little less fear of failure and fear of losing.

“I think as you get into the knockout stages you will get more small points accumulation and the drop kick might fall in as a winning form of points.”

Despite a disappointing start to the tournament, Stransky still thinks the Springboks are good enough to win the World Cup, even though they’ll likely need to beat both Wales and New Zealand on their way to the final.

“They (South Africa) got off to a dreadful start, as we know, but if there is anything we could have asked of them after that, they’ve done all of that and more,” he said. “They came out and were strong against Samoa and beat Scotland and did what was required against the USA.

“After losing, if we said, ‘What do we need to do’, we’ve done everything we need to do. We’re into the quarter-finals and in good shape. We’ve had a few injuries, but tragic as some of those injuries were they have resulted in the team being better off.

South Africa face Wales tonight in the opening match of the knockout stages.

“Wales have been the courageous team at this tournament and somehow they have found a way of progressing in hugely testing circumstances. It will be tough with Wales, they have a lot of great players in that team and are difficult to beat.”