Wise old warhorse Al Strokosch has admitted he doesn’t waste time and energy getting upset about rotten rugby referees.
Scotland’s tough star underlined his personal policy as he consigned the controversial defeat by the Sprinboks to history and set his sights on Italy.
Coach Scott Johnson reckoned a string of dubious verdicts by French whistler Roman Poite and, more especially, his video assistant robbed his side of a shock Castle Lager tourney triumph over the hosts at Nelspruit.
But as he stepped up preparations for the wooden spoon showdown with the Azzuri in Pretoria, Strokosch just shrugged his shoulders and declared: “I am not commenting on any of that it has been done to death.
“It is just the way it goes. Sometimes these things go against you and sometimes they go your way.”Strokosch insisted Scotland’s thrilling Six Nations victory over the Italians earlier this year will have no bearing on events on Saturday at Loftus Versveld.
The Perpignan forward said: “They will obviously be using that occasion as a motivator to get themselves up for the game. But this will be a different match no two games are the same. Italy’s approach is based around the back row.
“They have a good pack and a good breakaway unit in particular. We have to go out there and get on top, always a challenge against a good unit. ”
Strokosch went on: “We performed much better against South Africa, but it was by no means perfect. We still lost the game, even though it was a big step up.
“The yellow card to Jim Hamilton was not why we didn’t win. We fell off a couple of tackles and gave away a few penalties as well. All of these things added up and things got away from us in the later stages.”
The squad took time out from their preparations to visit a rugby club in Soweto. The players took part in a coaching clinic organised in conjunction with the British High Commission and Jabulani Rugby Club at Naledi High School.