The Springboks are not taking their foot off the gas as they prepare for Australia in round three of the Rugby Championship on the Gold Coast in Queensland. Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber has chosen his strongest available team with seven changes in the starting 15 and a further six on the bench. The match will be played this Sunday in front of supporters.
If there is such a thing as a full-strength Springbok side, this is it, barring the injury to Cheslin Kolbe that sees S’bu Nkosi start at wing. The Springboks are starting with three locks, Duane Vermeulen is back, so too is Faf de Klerk, and there is a 6-2 split on the bench. Nothing is being left to chance as the Boks begin a four-match run in Queensland, with the first of two matches against Australia. Nienaber is definitely not taking Australia lightly.
“If you just look at how Australia play in all the test matches they are a team that plays with pace and tempo and massive continuity and stuff like that and has an awesome skillset in terms of having the capability of stretching you from touchline to touchline,” says Nienaber.
The players are also looking forward to playing in front of a crowd again, last week’s turn-out in Perth for the All Blacks versus Australia is something South African players have not experienced in a year and a half. Bok lock-forward, Eben Etzebeth, says the players have missed the atmosphere a crowd in full voice brings.
“It is going to be exciting to play in front of a crowd again especially the guys from South Africa they haven’t played in front of crowds for quite a long time us in France at the end of the top 14 we had a little bit of a crowd. It is always nice the atmosphere the comes on the field will not be as clear as it was the last couple of weeks against the Lions and against Argentina but it is going to be great to play in front of a crowd just to get that buzz from the whole stadium. We are just excited for the test match,” says Etzebeth.
With Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus, not travelling with the Springboks, the Australian media was particularly interested if Nienaber was missing his best friend. It’s possibly an attempt to undermine the Bok coach, but Nienaber had a detailed response regarding their relationship.
“We are probably not confined by our job titles being director of rugby almost puts you in a box and you operate in that scope but we don’t work like that. We know between the two of us and between myself and the team and the team understands that I have certain responsibilities and Rassie has certain responsibilities but in all my responsibilities, he gives input but not only him, other coaching staff and managment staff as well and vice versa with Rassie. He would have certain aspects that he is responsible for but I would give input there,” Nienaber explains.
This is a fixture that has seen the Boks struggle against the Wallabies in Australia in the past. If there is a team that might figure out a way to use the Boks’ strengths against them, it could be Australia, and after suffering two defeats against New Zealand, they’ll be targeting this fixture to kick start their Rugby Championship campaign.
