All Black captain Kieran Read dispelled any thoughts of complacency one day out from their last home test of the year. Their opponents, the Springboks, have had a rocky Rugby Tournament so far – losing consecutive tests to the Pumas and Wallabies.
“They’ll be fired up and we’ll know what they’ll bring. We can’t turn up and expect things to go our way the whole game. These guys are a good side.” Read told the media at the captain’s run today a Westpac Stadium.
“I see within their group a confident team. They haven’t got all the results that have gone their way, but every time they run out and put that jersey on there’s so much pride in their national team. If we were in that situation we know how we’d come out.”
It was a stunning sunny day in the capital, and you couldn’t help but feel that an old-school afternoon kickoff would be preferable to the usual 7:35 pm start time tomorrow night. The skipper was coy when asked about what he thought about that, saying that ‘it’s awesome having the sun on your back’.
“There’s a lot of other things that come in around TV, sponsors and getting people to the ground. I think it’s something that could potentially come into play in the future, but there’s an awesome atmosphere when we play here at night.”
The All Blacks will wrap up the Rugby Championship tomorrow night with a bonus point win. The way the two sides have been tracking, it’s highly likely Read will be getting the trophy handed over at full time.