Australia’s coach John Connolly on Monday singled out the South African pack as the most impressive aspect of the Springboks’ revival against New Zealand in the Tri-Nations on the weekend.
”I thought it was a pretty solid performance by the Springboks. They tightened up their game considerably from the week before,” Connolly said of Saturday’s match in Rustenburg, where the champion All Blacks were beaten 21-20.
”They have a powerful forward pack which takes the wind out of the opposing pack, and then the backs have no momentum to play off,” he told reporters in Johannesburg where the Wallabies meet South Africa in the final Tri-Nations game next Saturday.
”The back row the Springboks have now, without Schalk Burger, just shows the phenomenal depth they have.”
Wallaby flyhalf Stephen Larkham said he expected the South African loose trio to once again target him and scrumhalf George Gregan.
”Generally, their back row targets the inside backs, but we can counter that by distributing the ball to other players as quickly as possible, by changing the point of attack,” he said.
Larkham said the inclusion of flyhalf Andre Pretorius in the starting line-up for the first time this season had made all the difference to the Springbok backline.
”Andre Pretorius coming into the starting line-up really helped the decision-making and provided leadership in the backs,” he said.
”He’s pretty good defensively, but his main strength is on attack. He attacks the gain-line more than other first-fives over here and he has an accurate boot, too.”
The Australians will have had a three-week break after their 34-27 defeat by the All Blacks in Auckland on August 19 and Larkham said this had been a valuable time of recuperation for the Wallabies.
”We had a very difficult start to the international season with seven matches in nine weeks. That’s particularly hard at Test level and especially with the sides we were up against.
”So the break has done us the world of good and I’m sure everyone’s feeling fresh,” Larkham said. — Reuters