A rare win in Australia could mark 2017 as a season to remember, writes JON CARDINELLI.
Australia’s sides lost every single fixture against New Zealand opposition in the recent Super Rugby tournament. The Wallabies lost to Scotland in Australia in June. They leaked 54 points and eight tries in the opening fixture of the Rugby Championship in Sydney.
What does this mean for South African rugby and for a resurgent Springbok side in search of a rare win on Australian soil next Saturday? Absolutely nothing.
The All Blacks are rightly placed on a pedestal. Steve Hansen’s charges have won 66 of their 74 Tests (for a win ratio of 91%) since 2012. They’ve claimed four out of a possible five Rugby Championship titles, as well as a World Cup, during that period.
New Zealand’s Super Rugby sides won 13 of the 15 regular-season games against South African opposition in the 2017 Super Rugby tournament. The Crusaders became the first side to travel across the Indian Ocean and win a final when they beat the Lions in Johannesburg.
The Boks have won one and lost nine against the All Blacks since the start of the 2012 season. They’ve won three and lost 19 to the All Blacks in New Zealand since the dawn of the professional era.
Indeed, there are many reasons to respect and fear the All Blacks.
Contrary to popular perception, there are nearly as many reasons to fear the Wallabies. They haven’t won as many international titles recently, and they certainly haven’t set the Super Rugby tournament alight. Their record against the Boks in Australia, however, commands respect.
The Boks have won four, drawn one and lost 20 against the Wallabies in Australia since 1996. It’s a record that South African rugby fans routinely ignore. Perhaps there is a tendency to focus on the greater challenge to come in New Zealand in every Rugby Championship campaign.
Perth, they say, is a great South African outpost. The Boks always do well in Perth.
That is true up to a point. It’s true that Perth boasts a large community of South African expats. It’s true that three of the Boks’ four wins on Australian soil over the past 21 years (as well as the solitary draw) have come in Perth. Unfortunately, it’s also true that the Boks have lost four Tests to the Wallabies in Perth since 1996.
I had the chance to chat to former Bok coach Heyneke Meyer recently. He was generous in his praise for the current Bok side and the culture that they have built over the past few months.
Meyer drew comparisons between the class of 2017 and that of 2013. For those who may have forgotten, the Boks won 83% of their Tests in 2013. What marked that team as a South African class apart was their win over the Wallabies in Australia.
Bismarck du Plessis won a turnover at the very first breakdown of the match at the Suncorp Stadium. From there, the Boks manhandled the Wallabies. They scored four tries en route to a record 38-12 victory.
Suddenly the Boks had reason to believe that a win against the All Blacks in New Zealand was possible. The following week in Auckland, coaches and players in the touring party assured me that the team was primed to end South Africa’s drought on New Zealand soil.
Who knows what may have transpired if Romain Poite hadn’t (erroneously) shown Du Plessis a red card in the Test at Eden Park? The Boks may have claimed a rare win in New Zealand. Upon reflection, they may have admitted that the win against the Wallabies in Brisbane had provided them with the momentum and the belief to go where so few Bok sides had gone before.
Overall, Meyer’s side lost three out of four Tests in Australia, and two out of two in Perth. They looked to have the 2014 Test in the bag until Morné Steyn failed to find touch from a penalty kick in the dying moments. The Wallabies counter-attacked to score the winning points.
Allister Coetzee would do well to prepare his charges for the mental challenge. Publicly, the Bok coach has made all the right noises in the lead-up to fixture against the Wallabies. He has called a Test in Australia a different beast and made mention of the Boks’ poor record in this part of the world.
One would hope that he and his lieutenants believe in the enormity of the task that lies ahead. One would hope that they make the necessary adjustments to the team and to the tactics ahead of this season-defining game. What worked on a tired French team and a limited Pumas side won’t work on a Wallabies combination that is always doubly dangerous on Australian soil.
Coetzee could become only the fifth Bok coach to win in Australia in the professional era. More importantly, this Bok side could take some real confidence and momentum into the subsequent Test in Albany.
In that scenario, they wouldn’t go into that match in New Zealand as favourites. They would, however, continue to stay within touching distance of the All Blacks on the Rugby Championship log.
Who knows, come the follow-up fixture between the two sides on 7 October in Cape Town, the title may still be up for grabs. We may get to see a tournament finale that doubles as a trophy decider for the first time since 2013. That would signify progress in the context of the past four years.
Prior to 2015, we expected the Boks to beat Ireland, Argentina, Italy, England and certainly Japan. The class of 2017 has done what was expected of them in the sense that they have seen off France and Argentina. This South African side won’t be remembered as anything out of the ordinary, however, if they don’t win in Australia and if they don’t make New Zealand work hard to claim that Rugby Championship crown.
Photo: Dave Hunt/BackpagePix
