Wallaby stars deny Super 12 slowdown
Former All Black front-rower Norm Hewitt said at the weekend that the Australian and South African players were "faking it trying not to get injured or too hyper at the start of a long season".
"They are only putting in 90%, while Kiwi players are putting in 100," Hewitt said.
New Zealand teams occupy the top three and four of the top five spots heading into this weekend's last round of the Super 12 tri-nation provincial tournament.
Of Australian sides, the ACT Brumbies are fourth, the New South Wales Waratahs sixth and the Queensland Reds eighth.
Australian teams lost eight of 10 games against New Zealand opposition prior to last weekend when the Brumbies toppled the Hurricanes in Wellington and the Waratahs defeated the Highlanders in Dunedin.
Experienced Wallaby backs Burke and Larkham suggested the Australians weren't foxing ahead of the October-November World Cup which they will host and rejected Hewitt's assertion, although for different reasons.
ACT fly-half Larkham suggested the erratic form of the Australian teams was probably due to an infusion of new faces.
"It's not so much (a case of) holding back. I think a lot of the New Zealand sides have had good combinations going for a number of years and they have really picked up on that in the beginning of the season," Larkham said.
"The Australian sides have had new combinations that they have had to try and deal with and it's taken a little bit of time."
Wallaby outside centre Burke felt the Australian teams hadn't been playing particularly well.
"Trust me, you never want to give anyone an even break," Burke said.
"What you do not want to do is lose games because you lose confidence and form.
"I doubt there's any foxing going on, it's just that right across the board, the Australian teams haven't performed as well as they could have.
"There's no foxing there," Burke added.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
