The Wallabies and All Blacks visit Pretoria and Johannesburg in a fortnight of rugby that could make or break a few careers.
Planet Rugby's Ross Hastie returned to the Highveld - where revenge is in the air...well, not really - to give you a view from the inside.
Day 4: When your friend is your enemy and your enemies are friendly
The eve of Saturday's Test at Loftus has turned out to be an eventful day. Two Springboks have withdrawn from the game and it's likely they'll be joined on the sidelines by a Wallaby flank on Saturday morning.
The loss of Frans Steyn isn't a big surprise, even if it comes as a massive blow to the hosts. When Heyneke Meyer told us on Wednesday that the big centre had aggravated the ankle injury he picked up on Monday, the writing was on the wall.
Johan Goosen's new job as the Bok playmaker just got a whole lot more difficult as he will now be directing an all-new midfield with Jaco Taute making his Test debut at outside centre.
A lot of neutral spectators will be excited by the news. Taute is the real deal: He's big, strong and fast - all the ingredients needed for a game breaker at 13. He can even smash long-range penalties. He probably doesn't have quite the range of Frans Steyn (who does?) but he certainly is capable a knocking them over from 50m.
After their scuffle in Perth, questions about a 'rematch' between Eben Etzebeth and Nathan Sharpe were inevitable this week but have been greeted with smiles and chuckles from both camps. It's clear there are no hard feelings between the opposing packs.
Unlike their relationships with All Blacks - with whom a fair amount of animosity exists for both Boks and Wallabies - the vibe between the teams set to meet in Pretoria on Saturday is almost friendly.
Sure, the horns come out when it's time for kick-off, but the niggle is generally left on the pitch and a pat on the back in the opposition change room after the game is not uncommon. It's part of what makes Rugby Union special.
Friday morning's Wallaby press conference bordered on being fun. Nathan Sharpe's sense of humour is, well, quite sharp, and Pat McCabe's eyes rolled back so far when the now-obligatory Quade Cooper question was asked that they nearly went around the full 360 degrees.
They had to be asked, but good on Sharpe for giving the questions a solid forward defensive without getting snotty nor openly voicing the true depth of the Wallabies' irritation at their team-mate's attempts to derail their tour in the hope of changing the coaching setup. He even mixed in a reference to the tummy bug that hit the team a few days ago for those who could read between the lines.
"We're concerned with the game on the weekend," said the Skipper.
"Those things will play themselves out the way they're supposed to.
"We're over here to do a job and that's to beat South Africa, representing Australia ... and all those things happening back home, we've got no influence over them."
Sharpe leaves his best talking for the field and he was in no doubt that at the tender age of 34 years and 216 days he'd have no issues with going the full 80 minutes at Loftus, thin air 'n all. No jokes.
Day 3 - Quade Cooper: The Kevin Pietersen of rugby
Day 2 - Reconciliation at the Casino?
Comments
jonesrp says...
Um...I`m sorry about this but I thought the Wallabies and the Springboks had issues with each other ...and now you`re saying both teams don`t get on with the All Blacks ?
...sigh....
Posted 08:19 29th September 2012