Mike Greenaway
The Springboks fly to Brisbane tomorrow and their supporters can only hope that their team packed a new mindset into their suitcases. The Boks have lost 16 of their past 21 matches in Australia and that is a staggeringly poor return given that over that period South Africa has won three World Cups.
To make this more tangible, Handre Pollard has two Webb Ellis Cup medals on his mantle piece but he has never won a game on Australian soil. His record Down Under is: played five, lost five.
The last time the Boks were in Australia was in 2022. They played a similar two-week series and were poor in losing the first match in Adelaide.
It was in that game in South Australia that Wallaby scrumhalf Nic White annoyed South Africans with a football-style dive. Faf de Klerk had waved a hand in front of him and he took the opportunity to drop as if felled by a sniper’s bullet.
The Springbok team that took the field the following Saturday at the Sydney Football Stadium had a completely different focus. They had been heavily chastised for their meek showing in the first Test and the change in attitude was best illustrated by Eben Etzebeth’s collaring of Wallaby prop Alan Alalaatoa.
The latter had taken exception with something Etzebeth had done but he will eternally wish he hadn’t. With veins popping and eyes bulging, Eben the Angry marched Alalaatoa around the Wallabies’ dead-ball area before shrieking match officials calmed down the Bok bruiser.
Blood was not spilled but Etzebeth’s intent summed up the Springbok approach that day. South Africa won 24-8 and the contrast from the week before could not have been starker.
In short, a correctly-focused Springbok team should beat the Wallabies nine times out of 10 but the South Africans tend to arrive in Australia with one eye on an upcoming game against the All Blacks.
If this is the case next week in Brisbane and the following Saturday in Perth, the Boks will be ambushed by a home team that is recovering strongly under new coach Joe Schmidt.
The Aussies were wonderfully woeful under Eddie Jones at the last World Cup but the pragmatic Schmidt knows how to build quality rugby teams. It was Kiwi Schmidt who fashioned the Ireland team that is currently blossoming under Andy Farrell.
With respect to Farrell, Schmidt laid the foundations for the Irish rugby revival and it should not be forgotten that his forwards coach was John Plumtree, who would get the same gig at the All Blacks before rejoining the Sharks.
The Wallabies have recently beaten Wales (twice) and Georgia as Schmidt stolidly puts the basics back in place after the spectacular failure of Jones.
No doubt Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus will be pointing out to his troops the mindset shortcomings of Springboks past but at the same time, he has hinted that this tour presents an opportunity for him to explore his depth in a few positions.
“The new guys in the team have done well and have given us more options. We must juggle a bit and give them more opportunities,” he said. “Some will be slowly integrated, some might be part of the action in Australia but not play against the All Blacks, but then return for the games against Argentina. We’ve got a plan but make no mistake, we want to win our first Rugby Championship since 2019.”