Strauss relishes All Black challenge
by Jason Humphries 09 September 2012, 07:40
Life does not get any easier for the Springboks after their 26-19 loss to Australia as South Africa have arrived in New Zealand to take on the All Blacks but hooker Adriaan Strauss said that the Boks were looking forward to the challenge of measuring themselves against the world’s best team.
South Africa will play the All Blacks in Dunedin on Saturday but have chosen to base themselves in Auckland before flying to Dunedin on Thursday where they will take on the current leaders of this year’s Rugby Championship.
“New Zealand are one of the best teams in the world and those are the types of teams that we like to play against. They are World Champs and they are the number one ranked team in the world so it is good to measure yourself against them,” Strauss told reporters on the team’s arrival in Auckland.
New Zealand are coming off a 21-5 victory over Argentina in Wellington but the men in black were pushed all the way by the tourists with only two late tries adding some gloss to the scoreline after Argentina had been reduced to 14 men after a yellow card for flank Julio Alfredo Farias Cabello in the 58th minute.
Strauss said that he had not seen the game but had been impressed with the way New Zealand had played under new coach Steve Hansen.
“We haven’t seen yesterday’s game but the All Blacks have been good this season. It is always tough playing them, especially at home. They are a classy side. They have great individuals but they play as a team. We will definitely be up for the game,” he said.
Strauss said that the poor result in Australia had given the Springboks a lot to think about but he was confident that the team could rectify their mistakes in time for the game against the All Blacks.
“We are a bit disappointed in the result against Australia. We played good rugby at times but some soft moments in the game, especially on defence, and one or two attacking opportunities that we didn’t use cost us. But that is test match rugby and we let it slip.
“We have got a lot of work to do but we are still very positive and we are looking forward to this weekend. We have a good week ahead of us so we can prepare. We are looking forward to a tough game this weekend but we need to take a good look at ourselves and work hard on the training field,” he explained.
