Australia’s much-maligned front row is determined to prove itself against the Springboks in this week’s Tri-Nations clash after being humbled in New Zealand, prop Greg Holmes said on Tuesday.
South Africa coach Jake White has already revealed he will be targeting the inexperienced Australian scrum in Brisbane on Friday, hoping to repeat the domination New Zealand enjoyed in their 32-12 win last Saturday.
Holmes said White’s assessment that the All Blacks exposed the Australian front row was ”fair enough”, but warned the Wallabies had been stung and wanted to restore some pride.”
”You’ve always got to suck in a bit of pride after a performance like that,” he said, revealing coach John Connolly had given them a frank assessment of their shortcoming after the match.
”He laid it down, which was fair enough, he didn’t need to say a lot. We know we didn’t perform well … we’re playing for our country and so we really have to muscle up and perform better.”
Holmes said the Australians were prepared for South Africa’s massive pack.
”They’re big guys but we’ve all played them at Super 14, so we know what to expect,” he said.
”We know they’ll target our scrum and really come after us.”
The Australian scrum should be boosted by the return from injury of prop Rodney Blake, who successfully completed a two-hour training session.
”We’ll see how he pulls up but he looked alright today [Tuesday],” Connolly said. — AFP
