Rassie Erasmus weighs in on ‘battle-ready’ debate as Wallabies might be ‘punched out’
Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus and an inset of Wallabies scrum-half Nic White.
Rassie Erasmus is wary of the threat the Wallabies pose to the Springboks but is confident that his team is well prepared for their Rugby Championship opener.
Australia arrive in South Africa off the back of a challenging British and Irish Lions series, while the Springboks beat the Barbarians, Italy (twice), and Georgia during their mid-year internationals.
There is a notion that the Wallabies are better prepared for the Rugby Championship because of the quality of matches they played in the build-up, a stance ex-hooker Jeremy Paul expressed earlier this month.
Rassie Erasmus argues readiness
The 48-year-old backed Australia to beat the Springboks in the opener at Ellis Park on Saturday.
“Off the back of this momentum [from the Lions tour], off the back of this type of game we played in Sydney – the line speed, dominant tackles – it’s a new level, and they have to replicate this,” he said on the GBRANZ podcast.
“You’ve done it once, now do it again.
“The Boks haven’t had the preparation going into this game, we have. We should be hard and fit, we should be incredibly confident coming off that win – we should win the first game. The second game is up for grabs.”
Meanwhile, Erasmus has weighed into the debate on the readiness of the two teams, pointing to the freshness of his squad.
Wallabies great claims Joe Schmidt’s side ‘should’ beat the Springboks after ‘tougher’ Lions series
The likes of Allan Alaalatoa, Tom Lynagh, Jake Gordon, Noah Lolesio and Dave Porecki all sustained injuries in the build-up to and during the Lions with the latter announcing his retirement.
As for the Boks, only Jean Kleyn has been ruled out of the opening two weeks of the Rugby Championship, with Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe not selected due to niggles.
“On the battle hardness, there are two ways of looking at it,” Erasmus said on Monday after naming his team for the Ellis Park encounter.
“They got six or seven injuries from playing the same team over and over again, while we lost one player in Jasper [Wiese] who lost his temper; otherwise, everyone is fit. We lost no one here.
“That bodes well for the Rugby Championship, we believe in the intensity of our training sessions. Ofcourse that is different from the games, when you get the pressure and nerves.”
Wallabies’ edge
The Springboks comfortably beat both Italy and Georgia in July, while the Wallabies were involved in three close Test matches. Erasmus does see that as a possible advantage for Joe Schmidt’s men.
“You get the referees who are under pressure too and have to make big decisions in games, which they would have experienced against the Lions, which we didn’t, because our games weren’t really close. Against the Lions, they got the tenseness where it came down to one or two errors, but on the other side of it, we can almost pick from a full-strength squad because we were able to rotate a little bit,” he continued.
“I don’t think that tactically we were really challenged by Italy or Georgia, but those were really physical matches.
“This week, we are playing at altitude, but I’m not sure if they are punched out after that, or if they are really battle-ready, and you are never sure about who did the right thing. We believe that we have.”
While the Wallabies did fall to a 2-1 series defeat, Schmidt’s charges put in a compelling performance in the third Test match and Erasmus is wary of the confidence that will have given them.
“I can’t see them not being on a high after the way they finished that series,” he said.
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