Hammett says SA teams have the best defence

Hurricanes coach Mark Hammett has praised South African Super Rugby teams for having the best defensive systems in the tournament.

The New Zealand teams have struggled to win matches against the Australian teams but Hammett says that the South Africans are also a threat to the Kiwi teams holding on to the title.

Hammett’s Hurricanes were comfortably beaten 48-14 by the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on the weekend and now face a massively improved Cheetahs team in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

Hammett said that they had planned to play a high-tempo game against the Bulls but admitted that their plans had backfired.

“South African teams have probably got the best defensive systems at the moment,” Hammett told AAP.

“I don’t always think they have the best defensive players ‘one on one’ but their systems are very, very good. “

“Now you see them populated across the board and they are hard to break down.”