“They are a very collective team, they have got some fantastic individual players and they have definitely got a platform capable of allowing them possession and they are a big side full of exciting prospects,” Burnell told irbu19.com.
“Once again I think what is quite nice for us is everybody is talking about them and not us, so I’m quite happy about that. You only have to read the papers or listen to the experts … New Zealand have already lifted the trophy haven’t they?
“We are just happy to be in there, in the semi finals and I guess for ourselves we have hit our main goals, but underneath we are just quietly boiling away. I don’t feel there is any pressure on us, I think it is an opportunity for us to go out and enjoy the occasion.”
Leading scorer
New Zealand may have scored the most tries and points in the pool stages, but it is a Welshman who occupies the position of leading point scorer in Division A with 39 points from three tries, six conversions and four penalties.
That Welshman is Leigh Halfpenny, although only two of his points came in their defeat to New Zealand. The wing though is, just like Burnell, confident that it will be a case of second time lucky for Wales at Ravenhill in the 19.30 local time kick off.
“We are looking forward to it, we have just come off a loss from them, so we have looked at them now, we know we are capable of beating them and everybody is motivated to beat them in the semi finals and hopefully get into the final,” Halfpenny said.
“I know everybody has said that we are looking forward to seeing the Haka again, that was a great experience from the first game. I think we will go in with a lot of confidence now, having played them once … a lot of us are just looking forward to beating them.
“We have seen they are quite a physical team, but there are areas in their game that we know we can capitalise on and basically we will just be going for the win … just taking every point that we can really.”
Yet to fire
New Zealand captain Chris Smith certainly won’t be underestimating the threat that Wales pose to his side, but perhaps worrying for their rivals the second row insists the Baby Blacks are yet to peak in this tournament.
“I think they will come at us all guns blazing in that first half, so it’s just a matter of staying calm and relaxed and playing our game all the way through,” said Smith, whose side topped the standings with maximum points after the pool stages.