Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus insists he is “aware” of the Springboks’ poor record in Australia as the team looks to try a new approach ahead of a two-Test tour against the Wallabies.

 Since 1996 only five wins have been recorded by the Springboks against the Wallabies on Australian soil and more recently the South Africans have only managed one win from the last five Down Under.

The teams come into the Rugby Championship on different trajectories with Erasmus back in the hot seat for the Springboks, who will need to evolve their ageing personnel this World Cup cycle.

On the other hand, the new Wallabies boss, Joe Schmidt, is only in the very early stages of picking up the pieces left by Eddie Jones. The great rugby mind is well on the way to doing that with three wins from three, but a bigger challenge awaits as the world champions battle Australia on August 10.

New approach

Erasmus is tired of excuses and revealed a new travel plan to help combat their poor form on Australian soil.

“We are certainly well aware,” Erasmus said. “Every year there’s an excuse, whether it’s maybe the first time playing at a venue like Melbourne or whatever.

“We are a team that shouldn’t have excuses. What is a bit different is that in the past we would be in Super Rugby and play week-in, week-out against them. It almost feels like the Rugby Championship and end-of-year tour has swapped around now.

“It’s becoming a bit more difficult because some of the players are new to us. Joe Schmidt certainly isn’t new to us. We know they will be well-organised.

“We are trying a bit of a new approach. We are flying tomorrow [Wednesday]. We trained yesterday and will train today. We will get there on Thursday and have sessions on Friday and Saturday. Then we will try to get into a normal training week.

“Last time when we flew out, we flew on a Sunday and the flight was cancelled – not that it’s an excuse – but we are trying to negate those things. We just want a normal Test week when we get to Australia. They are a proper team with a new coach and will have lots of energy.”

Opposite number

Schmidt has changed his personnel quite a bit with the squad lacking a consistent core after Jones chopped and changed a great deal in his short tenure last year.

Erasmus knows Schmidt well from Munster days when he worked with the former Ireland boss and the South African praised the ability of his opposite number. The former flank also revealed that he expects a tight contest between the two sides.

“It’s definitely new under Joe,” Erasmus said. “I worked under him when I was at Munster. He is a very hard worker. He is definitely a coach who brings the best out of players.

“There are lots of new names in their squad, who we haven’t played against in the last couple of years.

“It will be a big test for us. We’ve done our homework, but it will be tightly contested.”