At one stage during his Test career, Adriaan Strauss was pushing Bismarck du Plessis for a place in the Springbok starting line-up.
In fact, Heyneke Meyer chose Strauss as his first-choice No 2 at various stages of his four-year tenure in charge of the Boks, although Du Plessis did end up as the main man at last year’s Rugby World Cup.
But while it was debatable as to whether Strauss should’ve been No 1 in those periods, he certainly played impressive rugby at the time and was hard to leave out of the starting XV.
Apart from his accurate lineout-throwing – which is one of the main reasons Allister Coetzee is keeping him in the team ahead of Bongi Mbonambi and Malcolm Marx – it was his work-rate around the field that made him stand out. Strauss used to carry the ball a number of times, put in his fair share of tackles, and create several turnovers at the breakdown.
In 2016, one has hardly seen Strauss at the forefront of the Bok forward effort, and that has to change at the Suncorp Stadium on Saturday when he runs out for his 60th Test cap against the Wallabies (12pm SA time kickoff).
Coetzee resisted the temptation to dump Strauss entirely as the captain and player after he officially announced last week that he will be quitting the Test arena at the end of the year, and now is the time for the Bulls skipper to repay that faith shown in him.
The 30-year-old Strauss alluded to the work-rate issue during the captain’s press conference on Friday in Brisbane, and will have to heed his own words if the Boks are to prevent the Wallabies from getting front-foot ball.
“Having played Australia a couple of times, it’s always one of those games where before it where you know it’s going to be tough and physical. They’ve got game-breakers all over the park and they can run from all over the park, so your work-rate needs to be up there as well. We are facing a team with great individuals,” Strauss said.
“(David) Pocock and (Michael) Hooper are great on the ground, and the breakdown is going to be a battle. There are a lot of tactics there to get them out of the game, but we just need to be sharp and be aware of where they are on the pitch and where they are placing themselves, to make those steals or slow the ball down.
“They are also very clever players, and find ways to sneak into the rucks! So we’ve prepared quite well for that and we need to be sharp.”
Strauss also spoke about building “scoreboard pressure”, and in that regard, flyhalf Elton Jantjies and fullback Johan Goosen cannot afford to miss kicks at goal. The Boks are low on confidence at the moment after losing to Argentina in Salta, and even though the return of Juan de Jongh, Jesse Kriel and Francois Hougaard will hopefully reignite the backline, going into the lead early on will help the attack to try things under slightly less pressure.
The Wallabies are also feeling the heat after suffering their sixth consecutive defeat when they went down to the All Blacks in Wellington, so Saturday’s Test is an opportunity for the Boks to get going again.
Coetzee made some big calls in the backline, but kept the forwards intact, apart from Lourens Adriaanse coming in for Vincent Koch at tighthead prop. Now the ball is in the court of Strauss, Tendai Mtawarira, Lood de Jager and Francois Louw to prove that they should remain in the Springbok side going forward.
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Teams For Brisbane
Wallabies:15 Israel Folau, 14 Dane Haylett-Petty, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Bernard Foley, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Dean Mumm, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio.
Bench: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Allan Alaalatoa, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Sean McMahon, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Tevita Kuridrani, 23 Drew Mitchell.
Springboks:15 Johan Goosen, 14 Bryan Habana, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Lourens Adriaanse, 2 Adriaan Strauss (captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Substitutes: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Steven Kitshoff, 18 Trevor Nyakane, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 21 Jaco Kriel, 22 Morné Steyn, 23 Lionel Mapoe.
Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales). Kickoff:12pm SA time.