VIDEO: Australia has always been the Springboks’ kryptonite team when the two nations meet Down Under.
South Africa’s poor record in Australia is well documented.
More importantly, there is a need to find the root cause of these less-than-satisfying results.
The Boks did come away victorious in their last outing Down Under.
In 2022, at the Aussie Stadium in Sydney, the men in Green and Gold secured a 24-8 victory over the Wallabies.
A week earlier in Adelaide, they lost 17-25.
A year earlier (2021) the Boks went home tail between the legs – having lost 26-28 at the Robina Stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland and 17-30 in Brisbane – the latter the Boks’ graveyard city in Australia.
Or maybe the Wallabies are so used to not dominating the breakdown that they developed ways of circumventing the Boks when, inevitably, the South Africans win the heavy collisions.
There is a sense that the Springboks are threatening a ‘violent uprising’ coming off their World Cup heroics.
In his book (Rassie – stories of life and rugby) he revealed his life motto: “If you want to achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you must do something you’ve never done before.”
Maybe that is exactly what coach Rassie is doing on the current trip to Australia.
“We are trying a bit of a new approach.
“We will get there on Thursday and have sessions on Friday and Saturday,” Erasmus said.
“Then we will try to get into a normal training week.
“Last time we flew out, we were scheduled to fly on a Sunday and the flight was cancelled.
“That is not an excuse.
“However, 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.
“We’ll arrive in Australia and get straight into the swing of things as soon as possible to acclimatise to the conditions and environment and hit the ground running in the hope of getting off the tour to a good start,” Erasmus added.
He was clear there was no place for excuses.
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“We are a team that shouldn’t have excuses
“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 the end-of-year tour has swapped around now.
“They are a well-coached team, and they have a new coach in Joe Schmidt.
“They are a proper team.”
Erasmus and Schmidt had a close working relationship while South Africa’s coach was at Munster and Schmidt was in charge of Ireland.
“He is a man with a great work ethic and who knows how to bring the best out of his players, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead.
“There was pressure on us in 2019, during the British & Irish Lions tour in 2021, and in the Rugby World Cup last year,” said Erasmus.
“And we know that people expect us to win, but as always, we’ll give our best on the field and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”
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