Chronicle EditorBLOEMFONTEIN. — South Africa have been given little chance of exacting revenge on New Zealand in their Rugby Championship finale by Springboks coach Allister Coetzee, who says anyone expecting a rousing home win is “living in a fool’s paradise”.
He did, however, vow that the Springboks would be better prepared for next weekend’s clash against the world champions after their 57-0 drubbing in Auckland last month, despite the disappointment of failing to beat Australia on Saturday. The two sides drew 27-27 for a second stalemate between them in this year’s southern hemisphere championship to hand New Zealand the title for a fifth time in six years. South Africa and New Zealand complete their programme at Newlands in Cape Town on Saturday.
“We’ll be playing against a really good All Blacks side, but it’s just been a few months since this team has got together, so to think that we can just go and topple the All Blacks easily would be living in a fool’s paradise, I think we have to look at the strides we’re taking and build on what we have ,” Coetzee told reporters. — Reuters
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