Ken Borland

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.

The Springboks are a little nervous over how socialised they are to playing in front of a big crowd supporting the opposition because many of the players have not done that for 18 months, giving them another factor to adapt to when they play Australia on the Gold Coast on Sunday.

While the Wallabies have been the whipping boys of the All Blacks of late, the Springboks are approaching their first away game in the Rugby Championship with great caution because Australia, especially at home, have always been a side that throws up different, awkward questions for them.

And more than 25 000 mostly pro-Australian spectators in the Super Stadium, with Rugby Australia implementing a ‘bring your mate for free’ campaign, will be another curve-ball for South Africa to handle.

“We’re really excited to be playing in front of a capacity crowd again, but it means we will have to adapt our on-field communication. But it will be fantastic to play in front of a big crowd and hopefully it will spur our players on to perform even better,” forwards coach Deon Davids said on Tuesday.

“To have fans out there is going to be unreal, I can’t even remember how it feels to play in a full stadium,” prop Ox Nche said. “I’m a bit nervous about it but also very excited.”

And the Wallabies will also bring a totally different threat to Argentina, who the Springboks beat twice, with Davids saying lineouts and the tempo of their play are the two areas the world champions will need to adapt.

“They have different philosophies. We had to be smart to keep Argentina at bay and play the way we wanted too. Australia are very competitive in the lineouts, they turned over a few New Zealand balls and put them under pressure. That’s an area we really want to improve, it let us down a bit in our last game. The set-pieces will be well-contested and we have to make sure we execute well so we have a solid base and top-quality ball.

“In my past experience coaching against Dave Rennie, when he was with the Glasgow Warriors, the Waikato Chiefs and now the Wallabies, an attacking philosophy is part of his approach. He likes to play with ball-in-hand, to build pressure with the ball. I’m sure they will bring the same approach but just try to do it better in certain areas. The tempo was very high in the matches between the Wallabies and All Blacks,” Davids said.

It must have been a big call for coach Jacques Nienaber to bin Francois Steyn from his match-day 23, given the utility back’s tremendous experience and vital role off the bench in the World Cup triumph. But young Damian Willemse has given no reason for the Springbok management to rue that decision.

The 23-year-old has featured in the last five Tests, four of them as a replacement, while he started at fullback in the opening Rugby Championship match against Argentina. Willemse himself on Friday acknowledged how lucky he felt to be preferred over the more experienced options available to Nienaber, and he also praised Steyn for being so helpful to him.

“There are a lot of quality players who are missing out on the 23 – guys like Frans Steyn, Jesse Kriel and Morne Steyn, who all have more than 40 caps. So I feel very fortunate to make the playing squad. I’ll be happy to continue my run of playing and I’m looking forward to the next four weeks in Australia. The coaches’ trust in me is a big thing for me.

“I’ve been training with Frans and he’s always so calm and communicates well, I’m really enjoying it. He helps the youngsters a lot, Morne and Jesse too. Aphelele Fassi [wing/fullback] and I are always learning from them,” Willemse said from the Gold Coast on Friday.

Although Willemse has also been earmarked as a back-up inside centre, Damian de Allende has been so commanding in that position that the Stormers star has almost entirely featured at fullback in the Green and Gold this season. That is one of the decision-making positions for the Springboks and Willemse said although he is working hard on his game-management skills, it has not been a case of him having to temper his normally adventurous approach.

“We have a specific plan, the way Willie le Roux manages play. We want to force pressure on the opposition and turn the ball over to get our wings in the game and scoring their brilliant tries. It’s about playing smart rugby and not making as many errors, especially the decision-makers. I had a conversation with Aphelele today about how small the margins are at this level.

“The smallest mistake can cost you five or seven points, and we know Australia and New Zealand have a lot of skilful backs in their armoury. I’ve been working very hard with Mzwandile Stick [backline coach] on the high balls and my game-management at fullback. I’m enjoying the challenge,” Willemse said.

Veteran Duane Vermeulen has been on the sidelines for the last five massive Springbok Tests and as fantastic as their results have been, the eighthman said there are still many areas they can improve on.

“We can always improve. There have been small steps taken through the Georgia game, the SA A matches and the Tests against the British and Irish Lions. We slipped up on the first Test against them, but it’s been nice to see us get some continuity. We want to keep on improving and be consistent. It’s one step at a time but we’re heading in the right direction,” Vermeulen said.

So what are the areas the Springboks still need to work on?

Getting the back three more involved in attack

The Springboks’ five victories so far this year have largely been down to their tight five outmuscling and outworking the opposition. As effective as it has been, forward dominance alone has seldom triumphed in the Southern Hemisphere competition. It would be great to see Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi and Willie le Roux able to exploit space out wide more. They can also be brought into play from clever first-phase plays. Those three are all capable of breaking defensive systems and showing a clean pair of heels.

Increased tempo

One can forgive the Springboks for adopting a wear-them-down strategy against the British and Irish Lions because their lack of high-intensity conditioning after 18 months out of Test rugby made it essential. But they now have a good month of game-time and conditioning work under their belts so the time has come for them to put more speed on the ball. Unlike Argentina, Australia and New Zealand will be actively trying to quicken the game up, so the Springboks will need to be more mobile, with greater continuity between forwards and backs, and maybe even more offloads.

Better discipline

The old benchmark for Springbok teams was to concede fewer than 10 penalties per game. recently they have been in double figures most of the time. It’s not that their discipline has been bad, but under pressure they have tended to err a bit too easily. They can get their penalty count down and that will help with momentum and territory.

More accuracy at restarts

At times the Springboks have looked like a bunch of boisterous pups having a bone thrown to them when it comes to receiving the restarts. The absence of Vermeulen has been felt there and a bit more organisation and clinical execution will help make their exits smoother and relieve territorial pressure.

Improving their strengths even more

In the sage words of Nick Mallett: “It is not up to us to change the way we play because it’s not attractive. You play the way you play best in order to beat the opposition”. And the Springboks’ strengths are their set-pieces and kicking game. Which can still improve!

Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert have been immense at lineout time, but more options can be brought into play there.

Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Trevor Nyakane have excelled at scrum-time, but we are still waiting for Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi and Frans Malherbe to really cut loose and destroy opposition scrums.

And the Springboks can improve their box-kicks and kicking into space.