Wounded South Africa bite back at critics ahead of New Zealand clash

South Africa were defeated by Australia last weekend.

Despite overcoming the British and Irish Lions this summer, South Africa are coming under fire following back-to-back defeats by Australia in the quadrangular tournament. Media in New Zealand have stoked the flames ahead of the first meeting between the two teams this season, with one columnist branding them “unskilled” and “unfit”, while former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains claimed earlier this week that South African rugby had regressed due to its clubs no longer playing Super Rugby, with four teams involved in the United Rugby Championship alongside Edinburgh and Glasgow.

However, Stick says it is business as usual despite the flak.

“We actually don’t care what they think,” he replied. “It actually doesn’t bother us. We are focused on what we can do better, on improving the way we play. So what other people out there say about how we play the game, it really doesn’t bother us. People are entitled to have opinions on all that stuff but we don’t focus on negative stuff. That is the main thing for us, we focus on what we want to do as a team. That’s all.

“It’s a big game. We all know what is coming. They will play according to their strengths and we also play according to our strengths, so we don’t have to change anything. We just need to get better at what we do."

New Zealand v South Africa kicks off at 8.05am on Saturday, while in the other match on matchday five, Australia host Argentina (kick-off 11.05am). Both matches are being played in Townsville and are live on Sky Sports. The All Blacks lead the table by ten points.