Brisbane – The Springboks arrived in Brisbane at midnight after having caught the midnight special from Johannesburg on Sunday, but jet lag is not an option for the bleary-eyed Boks given that this week’s match against the Wallabies amounts to a smash-and-grab raid.
The Boks usually use their bye week to leisurely travel to matches in the Antipodes but there is no such luxury in this year’s truncated form of the Rugby Championship, which has been given a right old squeeze because of the approaching World Cup.
So the Boks landed at midnight and started training this morning, giving them just two full sessions and a light captain’s run before the match.
The rush to get to Brisbane after the World XV match meant that the large Springbok contingent had to travel in two different groups because they could not be accommodated in the business class of one plane.
The 31 players and the coach and doctor travelled via Sydney and the management went via Perth, arriving at the same final destination within half an hour of each other.
Besides effectively arriving at their hotel in the early hours of Tuesday morning of match week, the other notable difference to the squad, given that it is a World Cup year, is that Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer has brought the best available players he can put on the field. No B team shenanigans for overseas games this World Cup year.
Meyer said the squad were in good spirits after seeing the fruits of their labours against the World XV.
“We worked on a couple of new things since we first got together, and they came off, so the match against the World XV was a good barometer to see where we stand,” Meyer said. “The challenge this week would be to improve on certain aspects of the game and to fine-tune others.
“Obviously we need to make a big step-up against the Wallabies, Newlands was a good warm-up and now it is the real deal against a team that has been in camp for five days, waiting for us. It will be a very high-tempo game and genuine Test match rugby against one of the top sides of the world.”
Meyer pointed out that Australian rugby is in good health, evidence of this being their two teams in the semi-finals of Super Rugby (the Brumbies and the Waratahs).
“This probably points to more depth in their structures, and they have been preparing for this game for a long time,” Meyer said. “But I saw since the day we got together a passion and excitement among our players to make our country proud.”
Tomorrow Meyer will name his match-23 to play in the Suncorp Stadium. It’s a venue that has not been kind to the Springboks in recent years, although South Africa scored a brilliant 38-12 victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane in 2013.
“Before that match, the Springboks had never beaten Australia at Suncorp Stadium and although the match was played two years ago, we will take a lot out of that performance,” said Meyer.
“Australia are always tough opponents at home – since the start of the Tri-Nations in 1996 and later in the Rugby Championship, the Springboks have won only three out of 23 matches against the Wallabies in Australia, drawing one and losing 18. - The Star