Springboks plan to unsettle mighty All Blacks

CHRISTCHURCH: South African skipper Adriaan Strauss has dismissed strident criticism of his under-performing side as he revealed a plan to unsettle New Zealand when they clash in Christchurch today.

Another runaway victory for the unbeaten All Blacks could see them sew up the Rugby Championship with two rounds to spare while the Springboks, with only one win from three games, need a miraculous recovery to stay in contention.

The Springboks’ woeful record, less than a year after they were only a whisker away from beating the All Blacks in the World Cup semi-finals, has brought a scathing reaction from their home media and fans.

Veteran South African rugby scribe Mark Keohane, writing for sarugbymag.co.za, said the Springbok coaches were “out of their depth” and the team were getting worse with each match.

“This is a poor Springbok side, not well coached and not particularly well led,” Keohane wrote.

But Strauss shrugged off the criticism yesterday and said it was not universal as the Springboks go through a rebuilding phase.

“The info that I get is quite positive and people support us, but I also know there is a lot of criticism and it’s part of the game it’s part of the transition process,” he said.

Strauss intends stepping away from Test rugby at the end of this year, at the relatively young age of 30 for a hooker, but said it was part of the rebuild.

“We’ve got a long term plan but we don’t want to sacrifice any games getting there. We want to win every single Test match that we play.”

Strauss said they had taken note of how Argentina matched the New Zealanders for 50 minutes last week.

And the visitors had also reviewed their World Cup semi-final in which the All Blacks sneaked home 20-18 before beating Australia 34-17 in the final. — AFP