Ken Borland

Lukhanyo Am and Damian de Allende are like an old married couple fitting in so seamlessly with each other in the Springbok midfield that it’s easy to forget that they have only started 15 Tests together as a combination.

“South Africa is blessed to have had great centres and we now have to take over that responsibility. I feel like we’re doing a good job, but we’re always striving to get better. I’ve been playing with Doogz for just over two years now and we feed off each other. We’re getting experience together and learning all the time. We always want to keep on our toes,” the laconic Am said this week.

Barring the absence of the injured Cheslin Kolbe, South Africa will field their World Cup winning backline in their Rugby Championship Test against Australia on the Gold Coast on Sunday. An inexperienced Wallabies backline has lacked composure, making poor decisions, in their recent games against the All Blacks.

They have a 21-year-old flyhalf in Noah Lolesio, although stalwart utility back James O’Connor could make his return from long-term injury off the bench. Reece Hodge is tipped to come in at fullback and earn his 50^th cap, while another older player, Samu Kerevi, has been impressive at inside centre.

But their other centre options ae 22-year-old Len Ikitau, who only made his Test debut this year, and Hunter Paisami, a 23-year-old who has only played a handful of Tests.

This Springbok generation is certainly in touch with their female side when it comes to nurturing young players and Am, who made his Test debut in 2017, said team environment makes the difference in the tough world of international rugby.

“As a new player, it’s definitely a huge step-up compared to domestic or franchise rugby. So it’s really nice to come into a group with a lot of experience, it makes your job easier, having to go from training camps into Test matches. Helping the new guys is one of the shared responsibilities of this group.

“The Wallabies have got a balanced backline though, with experience and a couple of new guys. But inexperience means nothing, you can never underestimate the rookies or try and use that against them. Australia are currently playing very good rugby and they’ve just been unfortunate not to get the results,” Am said.

Rassie Erasmus may not be in Queensland with the Springboks, but it is business as usual for coach Jacques Nienaber and his unusual relationship with his director of rugby when it comes to coaching the South African rugby team.

Erasmus is back in South Africa still waiting for a date to be set for his misconduct hearing after WorldRugby took exception to the 62-minute long video that he made pointing out all the refereeing mistakes made in the first Test against the British and Irish Lions. The former Springbok loose forward has had a far more hands-on relationship with the team than other directors of rugby around the world, who tend to be paper-pushers in plush offices.

“We had a conversation 10-15 minutes ago, so life goes on as per normal,” Nienaber said on Wednesday when asked at the team announcement whether he was missing Erasmus. “We operate a bit differently to the usual director of rugby/coach relationship because we are not confined by job titles. We don’t work like that. We know we have certain responsibilities, the team understands how that works, and even with the assistant coaches, we all have input in each other’s responsibilities.

“The one positive of Covid is that technology has made the world very small – you can be in someone else’s living room in 10 minutes. Rassie has flipped his day and night around to fit in with our schedule and sometimes he’s in our team meetings, he’s a part of us whenever he can join in. So it’s business as usual. He was also not with us for the first Test against Argentina.”

The last time the Springboks were in Australia was in Septmber 2018 when they lost 23-18 to the Wallabies in nearby Brisbane. They made many dumb mistakes that day, looked one-dimensional and sorely lacking in confidence. In the week after that stuttering display, Erasmus said he did not expect to keep his job if things then went badly against the All Blacks in Wellington the following week. But South Africa won in New Zealand for the first time since 2009, to the astonishment of everybody.

But back then they were still emerging from their years in the wilderness and have gone from strength-to-strength since.

“Last time we were in Australia, it was our sixth game working together with Rassie. From then a lot of things have been implemented. We installed a new defensive system in 2018 which the players were still getting used to, and they were finding their feet in terms of playing style.

“We’re now a lot more settled, we’ve been together for quite a few Tests now. We’ve only lost a handful of players since then, so our continuity has been good. We’re a lot more aligned – that’s the good difference between us then and now,” Nienaber said.

Duane Vermeulen will be there to check the momentum of the Wallabies, and Faf de Klerk is also back to cause mayhem in defence, but the selection that is most telling in terms of how the Springboks want to nullify Australia on Sunday is that of three loose forwards on the bench.

Marco van Staden, Kwagga Smith and Jasper Wiese, all of whom are mobile enough to play openside flank, are all on the replacements bench named on Wednesday, and coach Jacques Nienaber confirmed this was to counter Australia’s expected efforts to speed up the Rugby Championship game at the Super Stadium on the Gold Coast.

“It’s because of how Australia play – with pace, tempo, massive continuity and an awesome skill-set as they look to stretch you from touchline-to-touchline. It looks weird to have three loose forwards on the bench, but then one of our locks is playing as a starting loose forward in Franco Mostert. So in effect we are starting with three locks.

“We think the Wallabies are going to play a quick, high-tempo game. We have a plan around the substitutions, but things happen in the game and we must adapt. So although Duane will take some time to get used to the pace of international rugby again, the number of minutes he plays will depend on how the game unfolds. But he knows the shortcuts on the field … ” Nienaber said on Wednesday.

While the attacking skills of the injured Cheslin Kolbe will obviously be missed, Sbu Nkosi is back on the right wing and the Sharks star is also no slouch in the try-scoring department. The 25-year-old Nkosi has dotted down eight times in 12 Tests, which compares very favourably to Kolbe’s nine tries in 18 Tests.

“All our players have their own ‘circus trick’, personality and energy that they bring to the team. So when you lose what one player brings, you gain something else from the other player coming in. There’s not that much to choose between our players and we are very fortunate to have that depth. Sbu has scored a few fantastic tries already, like Makazole Mapimpi, he’s also a bit of a try-machine, he knows where the tryline is,” Nienaber said.

The Springboks’ most potent attacking force, Cheslin Kolbe, is currently dogged by a leg injury that could see him ruled out of Sunday’s Rugby Championship Test against Australia.

“Cheslin got a bang on his leg and was sent for treatment and assessment. It’s nothing serious and hopefully he will be okay to be named on Wednesday. He was hurt on Friday and did not take part in training today [Tuesday],” assistant coach Deon Davids confirmed.

Kolbe is the sort of player who generally makes great decisions on attack, so his absence would be a big blow for the South Africans, particularly since they are up against a Wallabies team that is likely to provide opportunities for counter-attack with their preferred expansive approach.

“The Wallabies attack has improved, but maybe their execution and decision-making has not been as good as they would have wanted. They will want to adapt how they executed in certain situations, but I think they will bring the same attacking approach, just try and do it better in certain areas.

“There was a high tempo in the matches between the Wallabies and All Blacks, they were played at very high intensity. We know that if we make mistakes then Australia are very good playing from turnover possession and we will be punished, tries have been scored from 80-90 metres out. We must be ready to defend multiple phases and our set-pieces must be good,” Davids said.

 While the Wallabies may appear to be slow learners judging by their recent results against New Zealand, Davids said it’s inevitable that their game will have moved forward just by playing the world’s second-ranked team so often in the recent past. They are taking the beatings but learning lessons at the same time.

“Australia are a quality side, very well coached and competitive and I don’t think we should be looking too closely at their recent results. I think five of their last seven games have been against the All Blacks and two of those at Eden Park. They are a young team, rebuilding, but playing so much against a quality side means they can only get better.

“It will certainly make them grow, they would have learnt so much and gained experience. They have created a lot of opportunities, but maybe they have just let themselves down a bit with decision-making or their execution. It should be a very competitive game and it will be a mistake to look at past results. It will be very hard for us,” Davids warned.