Springbok coach Jake White has underlined his confidence that his men will halt their European tour fade-out by snatching revenge over Scotland this weekend — no matter how narrow they make the Murrayfield pitch.
The South Africans jetted into Edinburgh in the wake of confidence-denting defeats by Ireland (17-12) and England (32-16 at Twickenham on Saturday), with the coach revealing he had taken tactical advice from England World Cup winning coach, Sir Clive Woodward.
An upbeat White — who steered his troops to surprise Tri-Nations glory just two months ago — believes they can atone for their historic loss north of the border in 2002.
His jest about the surface dimensions was sparked by the complaint made by Australian coach Eddie Jones earlier this month.
Jones accused the Scottish authorities of trying to pull a fast one by reducing the width of the pitch in the hours before kick-off in the first Test of the autumn series.
”In terms of the rules, there was nothing to stop Scotland narrowing the pitch, and that would certainly not worry us,” said White.
”I had a chat with Clive and he said that, given the likely conditions at this time of year, we would have to just keep on playing through the middle,” he also told reporters here on Monday.
”If that is the case, they can go ahead and make the Murrayfield pitch three metres wide if they like!”
White also claimed that the real reason for his team’s tour defeats was a lack of proper preparation time in the build up to the trip.
”We have found out that England had eleven weeks to prepare,” said White, who replaced Rudolf Straeuli at the helm following their World Cup debacle last year and subsequent revelations about a bizarre build-up including the squad being sent to a boot camp.
”And we looked like a side that was up against opponents who had prepared for eleven weeks.
”Their players have been through special drills, while ours have been finishing off their season at home.
”Clive told me about the fitness and nutrition programmes that England have had in place.
”Size is important. If an 80kg guy hits a 100kg guy, even if his body position is perfect, he will still lose out.
”We need to get away from having short term goals all the time.
”You can’t build weight and muscle if you are playing every Saturday.
”We need to address this now. You’ve got to fix the roof while the sun is shining, not wait until there is a disaster.
”It’s not all gloom and doom. We have a very young team. Our captain is only 26 years old and he is one of our veterans.
”If these guys can use the next three years to get into the right condition, they can be very good.
”The All Blacks win over Wales puts our result in Cardiff in perspective. Argentina beat France. That result shows that if you are not up for it on the day you will lose.” – Sapa-AFP