South Africa skipper Adriaan Strauss shrugs off Eddie Jones' comments
Friday 11 November 2016 15:53, UK
South Africa captain Adriaan Strauss insists his team will not be distracted by Eddie Jones' jibe that they only know one way of playing.
The Springboks take on England at Twickenham on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, and ahead of the clash Jones said his opponents "never change", describing their physical approach as like "chess on steroids".
South Africa have certainly picked a gargantuan line-up with forward trio Pieter-Steph du Toit, Willem Alberts and Lood de Jager alone weighing a combined 55 stone.
Strauss, however, refused to rise to Jones' comments.
"That's a very interesting statement," said Strauss, who will retire from Test rugby at the end of the year. "We are moving towards a style we do want to play. We know we're not there yet.
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"This is another opportunity to take a step closer. We do want to play a physical game - it's in South Africa's DNA and it's our brand of rugby.
"We also want to adapt and grow as a team. We've been doing that this year. We haven't executed it that well but we are growing as a team.
"I don't know, I haven't read and heard everything he (Jones) said but we know what we want to do so that's where the focus is. We won't get swept up by comments from our opposition."
This will be South Africa's first Test since their 57-15 drubbing at the hands of New Zealand, the team's heaviest-ever defeat on home soil, but their recent record against England is impressive, with no losses in the past 12 meetings.
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