South Africa’s “luxury” of getting excessive depth in each place has the Wallabies ready for a tricky battle in opposition to what’s thought to be an understrength Springboks facet on this weekend’s Rugby Championship conflict in Pretoria.
Wanting to provide themselves the “best possible chance” of not solely beating Australia on Sunday morning (AEST) but in addition tasting success in opposition to New Zealand on Saturday week, the South Africans have already despatched 13 gamers to Auckland to organize for his or her battle with the All Blacks.
“Our plan from the outset was to select a squad that we believe has what it takes to beat Australia while at the same time selecting a group of players that could travel to New Zealand to give us the best possible chance to do well in both matches,” Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber stated.
“This squad features several Rugby World Cup winners and a crop of younger players who have done the job for us at the highest level, and judging by their enthusiasm and high work ethic at training, we know they are the right players for this big task.”
Wallabies utility again Reece Hodge dismissed solutions that the his facet was feeling disrespected by the Springboks’ determination to ship most of their finest gamers early to New Zealand.
“They have the luxury of four, five or six guys in (each) position that can step up to the rigours of Test footy,” Hodge stated.
“We’re expecting a tough battle. They’ve named a very strong side. They’re going to come out firing in their first home Test of the year.
“We don’t really expect too much difference in terms of (South Africa’s) selection. It’s a very high-quality team and it’s going to be a massive Test for us, but we’re just focusing more on ourselves and how we’re preparing for the weekend.
“Hopefully, if we can execute our game plan, it’ll go a long way (towards) getting us the result.”
It is sure to be a well-detailed sport plan beneath Eddie Jones, who will take cost of his first Test since being appointed Wallabies coach for a second time in January.
“One thing that Eddie has brought in is a lot of detail,” Hodge stated.
“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve come across. He (has been) very meticulous in the preparations, both in the last few weeks of our (training) camp and also (this week) leading into the first Test.
“He’s pretty impressive and all the assistants as well have been working very hard to prepare for this first game and rest of the campaign.
“It’s been a good environment to be a part of.”
Source: www.news.com.au
