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Paulse: Boks to win Tri-Nations
15/06/2007 10:38 - (SA)
Cape Town - Breyton Paulse, until very recently an integral part of the Springbok rugby set-up, believes South Africa have an excellent chance of winning the Tri-Nations series, which kicks off with the Springbok v Australia match at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
"It will be a big step up for both teams from last weekend (SA beat Samoa 35-8 in Johannesburg and Australia beat Fiji 49-0 in Perth).
"I think they are both capable of upping their games, but South Africa have home-ground advantage and that could be a factor," said Paulse.
"They are fairly evenly matched squads on paper, although I do think the tight five will be the key and South Africa have the edge in that department. Having said that, if Australia are still in the game with 10, 15 minutes to go, we could be in trouble.
"Australia have a number of game breakers, with Stephen Larkham the main one. I have played against Australia when he has been in their line-up and he brings a different dimension to their side. He directs operations so well and he asks questions of the defence. It is vital that we keep the pressure on him."
Paulse believes the fact that the format has been changed (the competition has been reduced from six to four matches because of the Rugby World Cup in September this year) is to South Africa's benefit.
"If we can get wins over Australia and New Zealand (on Saturday, June 23 in Durban), we will go on the away leg of the Tri-Nations high on confidence. With that winning momentum, I reckon we will have a very good chance of taking the trophy," said Paulse.
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Rugby
