South Africa coach Rudolf Straeuli believes New Zealand will plug its leaky defence in time for Saturday’s World Cup quarter-final between the two southern hemisphere giants.
New Zealand surprisingly conceded four tries against Wales in Sydney on Sunday before running out 53-37 winners in a match many thought the All Blacks would win comfortably.
Earlier on Monday New Zealand coach John Mitchell vowed to fix his team’s defence and Straeuli told reporters: ”Knowing New Zealand and knowing Mitch I don’t think they’ll play like that again.
”I heard they didn’t go to the after-match (function) so I don’t know if they started training there right after the game seeing as they are a proud nation, a good team and one of the favourites.
”Obviously, we saw the game and Wales breached their defensive lines a bit so it will be interesting.”
New Zealand and South Africa have historically been two of rugby union’s major powers, their clashes in the era before World Cups and ranking lists often determining which side was regarded as the world’s best.
And Straeuli, himself a former back-row and member of South Africa’s 1995 World Cup-winning team, said there was a distinct atmosphere created when the Springboks faced the All Blacks.
”It’s always special when we play against each other, it’s something in our history. There is something in an All Black/Springbok game that no other team in the world can copy.
Asked what the effect of this rivalry was, Straeuli replied: ”A very entertaining game”.
In recent meetings it is the All Blacks who have had the edge with a 52-16 win over the Springboks in Pretoria.
However, when the two sides last met, in August, the result was far closer with New Zealand coming through for a 19-11 victory in Dunedin.
But Straeuli said his side had moved on from then.
”In the tournament we have progressively played better. Obviously we felt against England we played well but we didn’t get the score. It will be interesting to measure ourselves on Saturday.
”We had a poor game at Loftus (Pretoria) and in Dunedin, like the England game (at the World Cup), we played most of the rugby but we didn’t get the result. Hopefully, somewhere along the line, get a result and create a surprise.
”There haven’t been any surprises yet in the World Cup,” said Straeuli who was curious to see who the Docklands crowd would favour.
”We are in Australia and it will be interesting to see who the Australians shout for — New Zealand or South Africa. I don’t know who they like the most or fear the most or love the most.”
But regardless of the crowd situation, Straeuli said the tournament had trengthened his faith in his players.
”Beforehand, I said maybe the World Cup came a year too early for us but still we can beat any team and this is a good squad.
”The tournament only starts now and we will see who is in what form.” – Sapa-AFP