By Ken Borland JOHANNESBURG Oct 1 (Reuters) – South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer wants an even better display from his inexperienced team than against Australia last weekend as they prepare to lock horns with New Zealand in their final Rugby Championship match.
The Springboks preserved their unbeaten home record with a 31-8 defeat of Australia on Saturday and Meyer said they would have to up their game to have any chance against the undefeated All Blacks this Saturday in Soweto.
“We were clinical at times, but we’ll need to be even more clinical against the All Blacks and if the game opens up, probably use the ball even more,” the Springbok coach told reporters in Johannesburg on Monday.
“You will never beat New Zealand at their own game, you’ll never out-run them. You have to put pressure on them, especially at the breakdown, in defence and with your kicking game.”
The boots of flyhalf Johan Goosen on his first start and scrumhalf Ruan Pienaar impressed against Australia though the former is struggling with a bruised heel and was kept out of training on Monday.
“It’s important that Johan is 100 per cent on Saturday because, to beat the All Blacks, you have to kick at an 80 per cent success rate and our kicking hasn’t been great this year,” Meyer said.
Meyer firmly believes in continuity in his selection and would like to choose an unchanged team for the match against the All Blacks but injuries could disrupt the much-improved backline.
Fullback Zane Kirchner is also in doubt after injuring his hip tackling Australia’s Adam Ashley-Cooper though Meyer preferred to focus on a great display at the weekend.
“It was a good performance, definitely the most satisfying of the year. That was the type of rugby we want to play. Our defence was also the best it’s been the whole year. We had 96 per cent completion rate and only missed seven tackles.
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