MELBOURNE, Australia, 4 November 2003 — South Africa coach Rudolf Straeuli believes New Zealand will plug its leaky defense in time for Saturday’s World Cup quarterfinal between the two southern hemisphere giants.
New Zealand surprisingly conceded four tries against Wales in Sydney on Sunday before running out 53-37 winners in a match many thought the All Blacks would win comfortably.
Earlier yesterday New Zealand coach John Mitchell vowed to fix his team’s defense and Straeuli told reporters: “Knowing New Zealand and knowing Mitch I don’t think they’ll play like that again.
“I heard they didn’t go to the after-match (function) so I don’t know if they started training there right after the game seeing as they are a proud nation, a good team and one of the favorites.
“Obviously, we saw the game and Wales breached their defensive lines a bit so it will be interesting.”
New Zealand and South Africa have historically been two of rugby union’s major powers, their clashes in the era before World Cups and ranking lists often determining which side was regarded as the world’s best. And Straeuli, himself a former back-row and member of South Africa’s 1995 World Cup-winning team, said there was a distinct atmosphere created when the Springboks faced the All Blacks.
“It’s always special when we play against each other, it’s something in our history. There is something in an All Black Springbok game that no other team in the world can copy. Asked what the effect of this rivary was, Straeuli replied: “A very entertaining game”.
In recent meetings it is the All Blacks who have had the edge with a 52-16 win over the Springboks in Pretoria.
However, when the two sides last met, in August, the result was far closer with New Zealand coming through for a 19-11 victory in Dunedin.
But Straeuli said his side had moved on from then. “In the tournament we have progressively played better.
Obviously we felt against England we played well but we didn’t get the score. It will be interesting to measure ourselves on Saturday.
Shaw Replaces Grewcock
for England
England lock Danny Grewcock will take no further part in the World Cup after breaking a bone in his hand and will be replaced by Simon Shaw, coach Clive Woodward said yesterday.
Grewcock sustained the injury in Sunday’s 111-13 pool C win over Uruguay and an X-ray confirmed fears that the British Lion would be ruled out for the tournament.
It is the second injury setback for Grewcock, who broke a toe when a team mate trod him during the warm-up for England’s first game against Georgia when he was on the bench.
Sunday’s match was his first taste of tournament action but he lasted only 53 minutes before being replaced by Julian White.
Grewcock had already been overtaken by Ben Kay as first choice second row partner for captain Martin Johnson.
Shaw, one of the last players to be culled from the pre-World Cup squad in a decision Woodward described as one of the hardest of his career, will arrive in Brisbane today.
