Boks just aren't good enough

“It looks as if McCaw and Dan Carter are God’s gift to rugby because you’re not allowed to touch them. And McCaw gets away with murder,” said Matfield.

However, that is not an excuse as the Springboks aren’t adapting well to the referees.

“We can and want to play positive rugby with the new laws. The Bulls and Stormers showed that. But the Super 14 was handled by Southern Hemisphere referees and that is probably where the difference and the frustration comes from.

SHOOT: If they're true champs, they'll suck it up, clean up their act and raise their game.

clipped from www.sport24.co.za Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield and Jaque Fourie consider a victory to be non-negotiable at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday. South Africa simply have to win the Test if they still have Tri-Nations aspirations. Burger, one of the few stars in New Zealand and one of only two try-scorers, said that the facts were inescapable. “We weren’t good enough. They scored more than 60 points in two Tests and we scarcely got 20. That is how much better they were.” He believes the yellow cards for Bakkies Botha and Danie Rossouw contributed to the Boks’ struggles. “We wanted to start well in both games, but after those yellow cards and the effect, we had to play catch-up rugby. We wanted to limit the All Blacks’ space, but you can’t do that effectively at this level with 14 players.” Matfield was also annoyed with what All Black captain Richie McCaw got away with. “We probably should have, and now will, pay more attention to the analysis of referees. If not, we will get a hiding.”