Although they have already won the inaugural Rugby Championship title the All Blacks have set themselves a new goal which they want to achieve against the Springboks in Soweto on Saturday.
Richie McCaw and his troops did not face the Springboks during their successful World Cup campaign in New Zealand last year and despite beating their arch rivals 21-11 in Dunedin three weeks ago their opponents squandered 20 points through poor goal-kicking.
"Our big goal is to be better than we were 12 months ago and, if we don't get things right tomorrow, then we'll undo a lot of the good work we've done," said McCaw.
"Even though we've won the Rugby Championship, there's still this big challenge ahead of playing the Springboks at home. It will be a huge test of where we are as a team."
McCaw's back row partner, number eight, Kieran Read, believes the test of true champions was to win away from home.
"It would really cement our number one status to win away from home against one of the top sides. If we don't win, then a lot of what we've achieved goes out the window," he said.
"To be number one, you can't just win at home and it's really important to win this weekend, there's no bigger challenge than playing the Springboks at home."
All Blacks coach Steve Hansen said playing at the Soccer City stadium would be a daunting task, especially as the Boks will have plenty of support behind them.
"Sure, 90 000 people will make a lot of noise, but if you do things right on the field then you quieten them down and it becomes your place," he explained.
"The players get excited about playing at venues like that, it's a magnificent stadium."
Comments
ruckingkiwi says...
Well it's impossible to win a world cup outside of NZ when there isn't one on offer this weekend is there, the last one was 5 years ago and the next in 3 years time so it's a petty comment given Read is commenting on the current team and this weekend and was ultimately paying South Africa rich praise which now in hindsight they didn't deserve.
Posted 10:27 07th October 2012
bigb6969 says...
tha_mai says...I think his point is NZ have not won a world cup outside of NZ
Posted 18:49 06th October 2012
tha_mai says...
sacanuck - a bit rich sa mentioning wins on the road - that is something the Springboks are exceptionally poor at throughout Tri-Nations and this year's Rugby Championship. They won just six from 36 away games throughout the Tri-Nations. 16%. This year - zero wins from 3 away.
Hardly figures to rave about!
Posted 08:38 06th October 2012
ruckingkiwi says...
SACanuck, I'm sure that will be the goal when the time comes, in umm 3 years from now. One game at a time though for now.
Posted 08:07 06th October 2012
SACanuck says...
Guess winning on the road does not apply to World Cups then, Mr. Read?
Posted 18:30 05th October 2012
sirtidychris says...
Haha they are so fed up of lack of competition they have to try and beat themselves !
Posted 18:21 05th October 2012