Springbok coach Rudolph Straeuli admitted on Sunday that South Africa’s champion pedigree would be put to the ultimate test when the Boks take on Australia in the final Tri-Nations rugby match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
”The quality of a true champion is being able to get up again and fight another day,” Straeuli said from the team hotel in Durban. ”It will be a big setback if we don’t beat the Wallabies,” he added.
South Africa have never been whitewashed in the history of the Tri-Nations and if the Boks lose, it will take Straeuli’s record to won four, lost four out of the eight Tests of which he has been in charge.
”I planned to win these two home games, but it’s no use crying over spilt milk and I’m looking ahead,” said the coach.
”I am excited about what I saw against the All Blacks, but I’m obviously disappointed by the result. We must work on our defence,” he said.
”We also gave them too much space on defence, but I’m confident of the process we are going through.”
Straeuli added that he was looking at employing a top defensive coach as he tries to rectify some of his team’s problem areas.
A plus for the Boks was the fact that they brought their penalty count down from 22 against Australia last weekend to just nine at King’s Park.
”Unfortunately the penalties we did concede were at bad times during the match,” said Straeuli.
”We have the backing of the supporters, but its no use focusing on beating these guys in the World Cup next year. We need to be able to beat them now as well.
”That is why next Saturday is so important,” he said.
Meanwhile, Straeuli said that the Boks should have won the Test against New Zealand and cost themselves with silly mistakes and wrong options.
”We really should have won this one — it was really close. We had lots of scoring opportunities but one or two wrong options cost us,” he said.
”Most individuals played well so there is no need to panic and we have the players to go forward,” he said. ”Having said that we must still look at ourselves and rectify the problems we have,” he said.
”We are playing an exciting brand of rugby at the moment. We just need to play a winning brand as well,” he pointed out.
Players to shine, according to Straeuli included flyhalf Andre Pretorius, flank Joe van Niekerk, fullback Werner Greeff and the lock pairing of AJ Venter and Jannes Labuschagne.
Of man-of-the-match Van Niekerk, Straeuli warned against over-hyping the young Lions flanker. ”Joe is a top player and that is due mainly to his conditioning training.
”He should not be blown out of proportion. He is not the best in the world yet,” he said.
Blue Bulls lock Victor Matfield flew home to Pretoria on Sunday to be with his fiance, whose father died at the weekend. He will rejoin the Boks in Durban on Monday.
The Springbok squad will remain in Durban until Thursday, while the Australians will also be preparing for the crunch Test in Johannesburg at sea level. – Sapa