All Blacks rugby captain Reuben Thorne says calling the Wallabies and Springboks weak is a slight on the enormous strides his team has made this year.
A New Zealand team flying high on confidence stars heavy favourites to beat South Africa in Saturday night’s Tri-Nations test at Carisbrook, although a repeat of last month’s 52-16 hammering in Pretoria could be difficult to achieve in the cold, night-time conditions.
After also reaching 50 points in downing Australia in Sydney, Thorne was forced to admit his team’s preparation for the World Cup was well ahead of the schedule they set themselves.
‘Our goal was to come out of the Tri-Nations with a good deal of confidence and getting our combinations working,†Thorne said.
‘To this point it’s been going very well, better than we probably could have imagined.
‘It’s obviously very good for the confidence. Hopefully we can continue that, combinations are starting to gel and that’s just about having time together.”
However, Thorne dismissed comments from Springboks coach Rudolf Straeuli last week that the All Blacks had peaked, with the lineout in need of much work along with other areas.
He also had no time for a report by British journalist Stephen Jones suggesting the All Blacks’s imminent Tri-Nations success — they need just one bonus point from their remaining two games — was worthless as the Wallabies and Springboks were both at their lowest ebb for many years.
‘Just because a team gets beaten by a big margin doesn’t mean they’re weaker than they’ve been in the past. I’d like to think it was more due to our good performances than their weaknesses,” Thorne said.
‘We’ve had two good results but that could easily be turned around.
‘Hopefully we can continue it on but I can’t see two more results like that coming up.”
Thorne said a quality performance was more important than winning margin, with their two record wins pushed firmly to the background in this week’s preparation.
Meanwhile, Thorne expressed the frustration of his team at having to play the game at night, coming at the end of a week of near-perfect daytime weather in Dunedin.
His comments continue a two-year debate over the issue, with the All Blacks unhappy that mid-winter tests in New Zealand are usually spoiled as a spectacle at night.
However, there is little likelihood of change, with millions of television dollars revenue at stake courtesy of live viewership in Britain and South Africa.
‘It makes for a long day and a late night,” Thorne said.
‘It’s generally raining and cold, whereas the weather we’ve had out there would have been perfect for an afternoon game.
‘We’d all enjoy a change, there’s no doubt about that but I don’t know if it will get to that point. Everyone’s aware of how we feel.”
Most South African players this week have agreed with Thorne, even though difficult conditions would suit the tourists, who rely on a forward-based kicking game and don’t boast the same skill level out wide.
Veteran Springboks winger Stefan Terblanche believed the All Blacks would be more used to the cold and any wind.
‘We hardly have a winter at home… we’d prefer the type of game we’re used to so a dry night would be good for us,” Terblanche said.
‘I think from the culture I come from, at three o’clock you play and at five o’clock you’re out on the field having a braai.”
All Blacks coach John Mitchell seemed content that his side would face trickier conditions, even though temperatures at the World Cup in Australia in spring would be far warmer.
‘The key to any team is that they adapt to what’s on offer,” he said.
‘This is another learning experience for us going into totally different conditions to what we’ve experienced over the last two weeks.”
Mitchell repeated his dictum that quality of performance was more important than the final score tomorrow.
‘We might have to experience a grind on the weekend and you can gain enormous satisfaction from that type of game,” he said. – Sapa-NZPA