After putting the finishing touches on the team’s preparations on a warm afternoon in Christchurch, skipper Kieran Read says they want to make a good early impression against a team with plenty to prove after consecutive defeats.
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Hailed as one of the greatest All Blacks sides in history, the bookies are giving nearly no chance to South Africa as they make the trip across the ditch to face traditional rivals New Zealand on Saturday night in Christchurch.
Throughout history, South Africa and New Zealand have played each other 91 times, with the All Blacks winning 53 of those and the Springboks winning 35, while three were drawn.
For the All Blacks, Sam Cane and Aaron Cruden have been ruled out through injury, resulting in Ardie Savea being granted an opportunity to start in the coveted openside flanker’s jersey with Matt Todd called in as openside cover. They control rugby in so many different countries. “I think he’s pretty excited.” said the number eight.
“That was one of the areas that we focused on, our physicality in our tackle but also our clean out”, he said.
“There is definitely progress [but] there’s still a lot of hard work that lies ahead”, said Strauss.
The All Blacks, the world champions on a 14-test winning streak, are clearly the best side in the world, but Hansen, who remarked in June that Cheika was “happy to be bullied” by Jones, has laughed off the first shots in what is likely to be a long war, saying: “Eddie’s got to make sure we know he’s out there, and in this case he’s right, isn’t he?” We did put a couple of things in place this week and we realise we need that type of performance where we fire for the full 85 minutes.
Smit was the captain of the last Springboks side to beat the All Blacks in New Zealand – a 32-29 victory in Hamilton on September 12, 2009.
Lock Du Toit gets the nod after Lood de Jager was ruled out with a knee problem, while Vincent Koch comes in for Lourens Adriaanse at tighthead prop.
The All Blacks’ record against South Africa of 53 wins from 91 meetings since 1921 – a win ratio of 58 per cent – is their lowest against all traditional rivals but they have won 11 of their last 13 meetings.
“But South Africa have probably lost half of their tests over the last three years”.
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“The Springboks are a wounded beast at the moment and we know they are going to bring intensity from the start on Saturday”, he said.
