Springboks coach De Villiers defuses row over referee claims

South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has backed down from his claim that the referees had favoured the All Blacks in the opening two matches of the Tri Nations.

The Springboks lost both games against the World Cup hosts with De Villiers suggesting New Zealand were helped to victory by the Irish officials in a bid to boost interest in next year's tournament. However, in a South Africa Rugby statement yesterday he said: "While I have also expressed unhappiness over some refereeing issues, this is a separate matter altogether and has no bearing on what I said.

"My comment during the interview was based on the general view that part of the success of any World Cup event rests on the fact that the host nation has a winning team.

"Nevertheless, I regret that this may have created the wrong impression."

The row had threatened to overshadow the Springboks' build-up to today's meeting with Australia in Brisbane but captain John Smit said the players remain fully focused on registering their first win of the tournament.

"I think it's probably helpful that we don't have too much time to get involved in the papers and websites when we're losing," he said. "I'm not too sure what's going on and the only task we can really give ourselves is fixing what goes on the field.

"As players there's always going to be side-shows, but our job is pretty simple to get it right on the field."

Adding to the scrutiny on the underperforming Springboks has been the significant media focus on their aggressive gameplan.

But despite the visitors missing two of their first-choice players to suspension, Smit says labelling his side as dirty is unfair and does no justice to their world-class calibre.

"I think if bashing was the only strength we had we wouldn't have achieved all the things we have over the last three or four years," he said.

"Sometimes you have to bash it, but not all the time. We've got to make sure we play the way we can and then we'll have a fair chance of winning. But they've got a huge amount of talent and are a team with a huge amount of potential and a number of threats on attack."

Open side flanker David Pocock could be the key to Australia's chances of victory. Pocock established himself as a genuine world-class forward against the Springboks during the corresponding Tri Nations match in Brisbane last year, and against the physical South Africans his influence will be vital.

Australia captain Rocky Elsom said of Pocock: "He's performed really well so far this year. He's the only genuine on-baller out there and he'll do a really good job of that."

Pocock himself said: "In the modern game everyone's got that (ball-fetching) ability. A lot of it depends on the way the ref interprets the breakdown on the night."