Krige plays down Johnson comments
The 1995 World Cup winners arrived in Perth yesterday and were greeted by dozens of supporters.
Krige said the comments about his England opposite were made off the record at the end of a long interview with a South African publication and he hadn't expected to be quoted.
"I was shocked to see it in print," Krige said, adding "it was irresponsible on my side but also on (the journalist's) side". In the article, Krige was quoted as saying: "Martin Johnson is one of the dirtiest captains in world rugby", which came from questions about the ill-tempered game between the teams last November.
Asked yesterday if it was what he honestly thought, Krige replied: "I don't want to say what I believe or what I don't believe. It's not my place to comment on (Johnson) in the papers." Regardless, he doesn't think the criticism will give England any extra motivation ahead of their October 18 clash with the Boks at Subiaco Oval.
"They won by 50 points in November, so there's no reason they should not have that advantage anyway," Krige said.
South African coach Rudolph Straeuli refused to rebuke Krige for his comments about Johnson.
"Maybe you have to investigate the two players and the two captains (Krige and Johnson) and look at their records yourself," he said. "Look who has been yellow-carded the most, who has been off the field the most."
After their Twickenham clash in November, England accused the Springboks of rough tactics, while Australia accused South Africa of eye gouging and biting in July.
Straeuli acknowledged his side's Twickenham behaviour was unacceptable, adding "it's been dealt with this is a World Cup tournament and the players who were ill-disciplined were handled".
Even so, Krige said: "There's no way we're going to change the way we play. We always want to play it physical but we always want to keep it within the law and we've been working very hard on our discipline," he added.
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