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Smit ready for the 'final'
21/08/2005 21:49 - (SA)
Hennie Brandt, Beeld
Perth- Exactly like a final.
That is how Springbok captain, John Smit, described the important Tri-Nations Test against New Zealand in Dunedin this weekend after the Boks beat Australia 22-19 in the Subiaco Oval on Saturday.
The Boks are top of the log with 12 points after three matches, compared to the All Blacks' five points. Australia are not in contention any more after three successive defeats.
If the Boks draw on Saturday, they will retain the title, even if the All Blacks manage to get five points in the final match of the series against Australia in Auckland on September 3.
Smit said: "Our victory against Australia on Saturday put us in the position to play the 'final' in the Tri-Nations series against the All Blacks this weekend. We do not want to wait another week to see what will happen in the match between the All Blacks and the Wallabies.
"It is probably the worst thing in the world to wait and see if you are going to win the trophy. We must make sure we retain the title in our fourth and last match of this year's series against the All Blacks."
He described the victory over the Wallabies as not very pretty, but said it was a huge relief for everyone that the Boks managed to beat Australia on their home turf.
The entire Bok camp agreed that they did not play well and made too many mistakes, which cost the Boks valuable possession. This curtailed their play and they could not attack properly.
National coach Jake White said the most important thing was to have recorded a win.
Tried hard to lose the match
"It is a good team that can win even when the players are playing poorly. We really did not play well and at one stage tried hard to lose the match with all the mistakes we made.
"This is not how we want to play, but we will take a victory away from home. We would have lost such a match in the past," the coach said.
One thing that was very good against the Aussies was the Boks' brilliant tackling. White said the Boks are very proud about this aspect of their game.
"I think all the athletes in the team make our team so good on defence. Everyone is at ease when they have to defend and in broken play the forwards are defending just as well as the backs.
Against a team such as the All Blacks, however, the Boks will not be able to just defend and depend on counter-attacks to score tries. The men in black will not throw away chances to score tries. The Boks are well aware of this."
White said last week that he wanted the Boks to be as merciless on attack with the ball in hand as they were on defence.
"Those two tries scored by Habana on Saturday showed we had flair and we could run with the ball. However, we do this from our own try line. When we do this in our opponents half, it seems as if we are over-hasty," White said.
- Beeld
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