Coetzee admits visitors won’t take foot off the pedal
SOUTH Africa coach Allister Coetzee admits New Zealand appear to have no weaknesses as he tries to end a recurring personal Rugby Championship nightmare against them.
“They do not seem to have any weak areas,” conceded the diminutive, 54-year-old former provincial scrumhalf.
Coetzee earlier said “only those living in a fool’s paradise” would believe New Zealand could be easily toppled.
The Springboks face the All Blacks in Cape Town today in the final round of a southern hemisphere championship already won by the world champions.
But Coetzee knows from bitter experience that the last thing on the minds of the New Zealanders will be taking the foot off the accelerator.
Since succeeding Heyneke Meyer as coach last year, Coetzee has faced the All Blacks three times with increasingly disastrous outcomes.
The first ended 41-13 in favour of New Zealand in Christchurch last year followed a month later by a humiliating 57-15 thrashing in Durban.
But if Coetzee thought his embarrassment had reached rock bottom, amid calls for him to be sacked, he was gravely mistaken.
Last month, the All Blacks once more scored 57 points against the Springboks, this time in Auckland, but did not concede any points.
It was the heaviest defeat suffered by a country that have won the Rugby World Cup twice since they began playing internationally 126 years ago.
In three matches against New