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Hobart - Proteas skipper Faf du Plessis has declared that he doesn't know enough about Australian culture to make informed comments on the subject.
Du Plessis' comments come in the wake of allegations made to the media by former South African captain Graeme Smith who believes that Australia's cricketing culture is on the wane.
The current South African skipper said: "I don't know too much about it. I just read something about the culture and I'm always of the position if you don't know exactly what's going on, you can't comment on that.
"I don't know enough about the Australian culture, so I can't comment on it. From the outside, it seems the same as always."
Meanwhile Australia captain Steve Smith has dismissed the comments made by the former Proteas skipper out of hand, saying that as an outsider he couldn't possibly be in a position to comment.
Smith said: "I'm not sure what Graeme Smith knows about Australian cricket.
"He obviously wasn't involved in it. I think the team's in a good place at the moment, we've got a good culture, built on constant improvement and getting better. The guys are in a good place, we're a tight-knit group and we're ready to hopefully turn this around this week."
The Baggy Greens skipper admitted his side had performed poorly in their last few Test outings but he remains committed to the cause of winning matches.
Smith added: "I've seen a lot of the criticism and I guess when you're losing cricket games that sort of criticism is warranted so we've got to try and turn it around and play the way that Australia does best and that's by winning games of cricket in Australia.
"We've not been good enough and I guess for me it's about making sure that the guys are upbeat and ready for the challenge out there in the middle.
"We've prepared very well like we have for every Test match. The guys feel like there are in a good place so it's about going out there and making sure that we get the job done."
