Springboks v Wallabies preview: ‘Built-up hatred’ to edge Rassie Erasmus’ charges to victory in ‘fire and brimstone’ Test
Handre Pollard (right) and James O'Connor (left)
The Springboks head to Cape Town a wounded beast following last weekend’s dramatic 38-22 defeat to the Wallabies, but should come out all guns blazing.
Last weekend’s clash at Ellis Park was the ultimate game of two halves. Rassie Erasmus’ charges came out of the traps extremely quickly, scoring three tries in 18 minutes, but after that flurry of scores, it was all Wallabies.
Led by the returning James O’Connor, Australia not only clawed their way back into the game, but went on to claim their first victory at the historic ground for 62 years, thanks to a run of 38 unanswered points.
The manner of the defeat left Erasmus in a less-than-happy mood at the full-time whistle, and even left him changing his already selected team for Test Two.
But, nothing should be taken away from the Wallabies, who were fully deserving of the win come full-time. The lineout fired to near perfection throughout the game, picking off the Boks with ease, and they bossed most of the exchanges around the loose too.
The result, and the expected backlash, put this game on a really interesting knife-edge ahead of this weekend’s clash in Cape Town.
Where the game will be won
There are obviously a lot of key areas and battles within this game, as with any Test match, but you’d expect the lineout will be the defining area of the game.
The Wallabies’ lineout defence, led by Nick Frost, has fired them to successive wins over the British and Irish Lions and the Springboks, and if they get this area right they could very easily make it three wins in a row.
South Africa’s game, even with its new intent to fling the ball out wide and play fast, flowing rugby, is still built on a good set-piece, and the lineout is key to that. As we’ve seen over the past year, the Boks use the lineout to just give them consistent, clean ball to then allow their midfield to punch through holes. That will also be their plan this weekend, given Damian de Allende is back in the mix at 12, so if the Wallabies can just disrupt that transfer or even pinch the ball back, it should work wonders.
A big part of Australia’s dominance in defensive situations tends to come from their speed of drill. Frost tends to jump that split second faster than his opposition, which in itself is crazy considering both the speed of the modern-day lineout, but also the fact he has to react quickly to do it, but he also tends to jump forwards and up to win the space and get in the way of his opposition. The Boks will need to hold their ground on that front.
The change of replacement hooker from Bongi Mbonambi to Marnus van der Merwe could also be a sign that they want to really nail the lineout. Upon his introduction, experienced hooker Mbonambi struggled to hit his darts, while Scarlets man Van der Merwe was pretty accurate during the summer.
Last time they met
What they said
Speaking ahead of the game, Erasmus described the feeling from last weekend as ‘not lekker’.
“It’s been a while since we lost,” he said. “It’s been a while since a game just ran away from us in seven minutes. It’s not a lekker feeling when that happens.
“But by the first session on Monday, the answers started coming, and then we did attack today [Tuesday], and the answers started coming.
“We were 22 points up, and we thought ‘this is easy and then you get a shock’ and you get two or three concussions and it’s not excuses but we did lose Siya [Kolisi], Marco [van Staden], Kurt-Lee [Arendse] and Edwill [van der Merwe] so everything almost got compounded and then all of a sudden we were 14 points down and they were just putting down the hammer.
“As we are going through the training sessions, we’re finding the solutions. And one thing was, maybe it came too easily in the beginning, and then it got bad. We couldn’t handle it.”
He also detailed the manner of the defeat made him rethink his selection.
“With the result of us losing momentum, four guys miss out, Krappies [Morne van den Berg], Ethan [Hooker], and Vincent [Koch],” Erasmus explained, with the fourth player likely being Cobus Wiese, whose name escaped the head coach.
“There are four guys who would have played this weekend. Hopefully, we can get back on the horse and win again.
“Then obviously a guy like Kurt-Lee [Arendse] might have backed up, and Canan [Moodie] might have played at centre if we had won – those guys missed out there, and there are also injuries in other positions.”
The big narrative coming out of the Wallabies’ camp was their ability to come back into the game after being 22-0 down, and head coach Joe Schmidt is hoping that could build further belief within his charges.
“You hope that it does build belief. You hope that it gives confidence to players so they don’t hesitate, they seize the moment in front of them and play as best they can. That would certainly be what we’re hoping for,” he said.
“We are trying to build some more cohesion. We try to keep some combinations together so that cohesion can continue to build because we had a camp for two days in January and then didn’t really assemble the team until the lead into the Fiji Test that we had.
“Then had another four days where the players could regenerate, and then had a week’s lead into the first Lions Test just because Super Rugby went right to the end of June.
“With that, we were really hopeful that one of the teams would get into the final this year. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but that’s what we’d planned around one of them getting into the final.
“Fantastic if two of them did, but we know the strength and depth of the Kiwi Super Rugby teams, and they had three out of the four semi-finalists and obviously the two finalists.”
A big part of their win last weekend was the performance of half-back duo James O’Connor and Nic White, and Schmidt was full of praise for the pair.
“The accumulated experience of those two players does help [with on-field decision-making],” he said.
“James was just trying to find his feet, particularly in that first 20 minutes; he got caught drifting across the field and got turned over. He was a little bit hesitant, but as the game went on, I felt like he got a bit of rhythm.
“Nic’s kicking game was really important for us. His organisational game was good for us.”
Players to watch
For the Springboks, the return of Cheslin Kolbe is going to be pivotal. The wily winger is arguably one of the best players to ever wear the Green and Gold, and will just add another layer of threat to this already delicious-looking backline.
Damian de Allende has also been a key man in this Boks dynasty, and as touched on earlier, the sort of punch and power he brings to their attack will only take their game up a notch. He also has a telepathic connection with fellow centre Jesse Kriel after years of playing alongside each other, which should stop the Wallabies getting as much change through midfield as they got at Ellis Park.
Ox Nche will also likely have a huge say on the Test. His desire to attack the scrum and grind out penalties is second-to-none, and that has quickly taken the Boks’ scrum up another level.
For the Wallabies, Tom Wright will likely be their go-to man in attack. The Brumbies ace led the attacking stats for his side in the win at Ellis Park, notching 107 metres ball-in-hand, while notching two linebreaks and beating five defenders along the way.
Max Jorgensen is also quietly becoming a real menace on the wing for the Wallabies, and his attacking exploits will certainly make even Kolbe stand to attention. His quick feet at the point of contact, mixed with his pace and desire to go on the outside, make him a real handful for defenders to deal with, and it seems the Wallabies are starting to work their attack around him.
Towering locks Will Skelton and Nick Frost will also be key to getting their side over the line, with La Rochelle enforcer Skelton likely to set the tone physically, while Frost will likely be the main man at the lineout.
Main head-to-head
There will, of course, be plenty of mouthwatering head-to-heads across the game, but the clash between old horses Handre Pollard and James O’Connor is absolutely scintillating to the neutral viewer. The pair are both proper quality operators within their own right, and will also come into the Test in good spirits. Pollard comes back into the mix following a strong end to the season with Leicester Tigers and has carried that over into the Green and Gold, too.
O’Connor, who will take Pollard’s spot as Leicester’s number 10 from next season, was in the Test wilderness for three years prior to last weekend’s win at Ellis Park, but to be honest, it didn’t look like he’d been away at all as he steered his side to a famous win.
While the battle up-front will be massive, given the comments coming out of both camps, the way both fly-halves get their backlines playing could be a major factor in the outcome of the match. Both men are capable of playing fast, expansive rugby, which suits the way their teams want to play, so whoever can do that better than the other should see their team over the line.
Prediction
This has all the hallmarks of a genuine Test match classic. The build-up has had that little bit of edge, with a genuine feeling of hurt and anger coming out of the Boks camp, which should fuel a fire and brimstone contest. Both teams will be confident heading into it as well, with the Boks fuelled by that built-up hatred while the Wallabies will be on cloud nine after last weekend’s win, so it promises to be close. Our money is on the hosts, though, but only just. Springboks by 5.
Previous results
2025: Australia won 38-22 in Johannesburg
2024: South Africa won 30-12 in Perth
2024: South Africa won 33-7 in Brisbane
2023: South Africa won 43-12 in Pretoria
2022: South Africa won 24-8 in Sydney
2022: Australia won 25-17 in Adelaide
2021: Australia won 30-17 in Brisbane
2021: Australia won 28-26 on the Gold Coast
2019: South Africa won 35-17 in Johannesburg
2018: South Africa won 23-12 in Gqeberha
2018: Australia won 23-18 in Brisbane
The teams
Springboks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel (c), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche
Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Lood de Jager, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu
Wallabies: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Corey Toole, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Nic White, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight (c), 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 Tom Robertson
Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Andrew Kellaway
Date: Saturday, August 23
Venue: DHL Stadium, Cape Town
Kick-off: 17:10 local time (01:10 AEST Sunday, 16:10 BST, 15:10 GMT)
Referee: James Doleman (NZR)
Assistant referees: Ben O’Keeffe (NZR), Gianluca Gnecchi (FIR)
TMO: Richard Kelly (RA)
FPRO: Tual Trainini (FFR)