Springboks want to be more clinical, Strauss

Sep 16 • General News, Springboks • 1482 Views • Comments Off on Springboks want to be more clinical, Strauss

Springbok captain Adriaan Strauss said the prospects of playing the All Black in New Zealand is an exciting one for both newcomers as well as experienced players.

The Springboks and the All Blacks play against each on Saturday at the AMI Stadium in round four of the 2016 Castle Lager Rugby Championship. Strauss, who will be playing in his 61^st Test, addressed the media in Christchurch on Friday morning.

“This week the focus was massively on our own execution, what we need to do better and how to execute our plan much better,” said Strauss. “We want to be more clinical, make less errors and make the right decisions.”

According to the Springbok captain there is definitely progress within the team, despite some of the results that have gone against his side so far this season.

“There were really some good moments against Australia, when we played some good rugby,” said Strauss.

“But we are not yet the team we want to be, and there’s still a lot of hard work that lies ahead. We did put a couple of things in place this week and we realise we need that type of performance where we fire for the full 85 minutes. Hopefully that can be tomorrow.

“Our standards and our own ambitions are the things which are motivating us. We know where we’re going and we know that we are not there yet, and that is what we are all working towards,” added Strauss.

The match will be the 800^th international game for South Africa and flanker Francois Louw will play in his 50^th Test for the Springboks. Kick off time is 19h35 in New Zealand (09h35 SA time).

Angus Gardner of Australia will referee this match and will be assisted by Pascal Gaüzère (France) and Marius Mitrea (Italy), with the TMO George Ayoub (Australia). It will only be Gardner’s second appearance as referee in a Springbok Test – the first was when South Africa beat Ireland in the second Test in June.