CAPE TOWN :Stand-in Australia captain Fraser McReight does not expect his new responsibilities to change his approach and style when he leads his country against South Africa in the Rugby Championship on Saturday.
The flanker takes over from the injured Harry Wilson as skipper, with coach Joe Schmidt hailing him a “quiet leader” when appointing him the Wallabies’ 91st captain on Thursday.
“I feel very privileged and honoured to be captain this week, although I’d probably say I’d rather be playing with Harry and for him to be leading us out,” McReight told a Friday press conference at their hotel.
“But I also feel very proud to be part of a special club.”
The 26-year-old, a former Australia under-20 captain, said it would be business as usual for him at the Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
“It probably won’t change too much from what I’d be doing if Harry was playing. I’ll let my game do most of the talking, try to get to the referee when I can, but other than that, just do what I normally do,” he added.
“We’ve got such great leaders in this team. Before this weekend, we had James Slipper, who’s played almost 150 tests (but is injured); Nic White, James O’Connor, Will Skelton … blokes who have been around for so long.
“I don’t really need to speak. If I do, it would be about defence, and we’ve got so many great defenders and defensive leaders within the team as well.”
McReight is anticipating a bruising approach from the chastened South Africans, who Australia upset with a come-from-behind 38-22 win in Johannesburg last weekend at the start of the Southern Hemisphere championship.
“It’ll be pretty much more of how they were playing in the first 20 minutes,” he said of last Saturday’s test at Ellis Park where South Africa raced into a 22-0 lead before the Wallabies turned the test on its head.
“It was pretty poor from us (at the start) so it’s important for us to go out there and try to rectify that.
“I dare say, the Boks will want to come out and do that for the whole game. So how can we prevent them? What can we do better in our power? We’ve been looking in the mirror throughout the week and working on what we can do better,” McReight added.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
