Wayne Smith | July 23, 2009

Article from: The Australian

HIS critics might be focusing on his wayward passing, but Australian halfback Luke Burgess is focusing on something else entirely - the fact that when the Wallabies played their game at Eden Park last Saturday, they split the All Blacks wide open.

It's for coach Robbie Deans and the selectors to decide whether the second-season Wallaby is worth persevering with after his erratic display in Auckland, but indications are they see enough spark in his game to again entrust him with the nine jersey for Australia's next Tri-Nations Test, against the Springboks in Cape Town on August 8.

Certainly the 15-Test halfback was remarkably upbeat following the Wallabies' first training session at Coogee after reassembling yesterday in the wake of Saturday's 22-16 loss to New Zealand.

"We're not going to be satisfied until we become the team we can be," Burgess said.

"It's wonderful to be part of such a supportive group."

Not that he particularly needed any propping up from his teammates after the Eden Park Test, even after being targeted for criticism for his "sloppy passing" -- as the NZ Herald described it.

"Everyone is always supportive of me, but I haven't needed any special emotional support this week."

Indeed, Burgess was not even taking the easy out provided by the comments of his young understudy Will Genia, who claimed the Wallabies halfback had turned in a good performance considering it was "a war zone" at the breakdown and he had to fight to get to the ball to clear it under enormous pressure.

"I think our forwards did a good job," Burgess said. "The All Blacks put a lot of pressure on the breakdown, but I thought our performance there was better than it has been."

The Wallabies will be fascinated television spectators when the All Blacks meet the Springboks at Bloemfontein early Sunday morning (AEST) in the first of two Tests between the two sides before South Africa rounds off a gruelling three-week stint by then facing the Wallabies.

But where most experts believe Australia desperately needs to muscle up against the Boks in Cape Town, Burgess insists it would be folly for the Wallabies to attempt to beat the reigning world champions at their own game.

"We should be playing our game, the game that we believe in," Burgess said. "It's not an easy game to play, but that's why we play it -- because it's not easy. But you could see from the All Blacks match that our game can open up any team in the world. We have to keep backing ourselves."

Loosehead prop Benn Robinson, who topped the tackle count on both sides and was one of the few Wallabies to come away from Eden Park with an enhanced reputation, said Australia did not need to make drastic changes to its game when it meets the Lions-taming Springboks.

"Small changes, little changes -- that's what needed to change the overall perception," Robinson said. "That's three times now we've been in front of the All Blacks (in Brisbane and Hong Kong last year and again in Auckland) and they've gotten away from us.

"We took a lot of positives away from the game, but there are some general things we need to improve, like our discipline. It was a little disappointing giving away so many penalties. And we need to lift our general aggression. They were very aggressive at the breakdown and they caught us napping a little bit."

The Australian forwards fired up in the physical confrontation stakes during a live scrummaging session yesterday at which Robinson admitted there had been "a bit of pushing and shoving".

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...015651,00.html