RG Snyman says the Springboks will benefit from a tough series against Ireland when the world champions tackle the Wallabies in the Rugby Championship opener on Saturday.
The Boks arrived in Australia last Thursday to give themselves a better chance to acclimatise to the time zone and local conditions, as well as get a full week of preparation in this week ahead of the clash in Brisbane.
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After enjoying a day off on Sunday and resuming training on Monday, Snyman said the decision to travel early to Australia has paid off for the players.
“Arriving in Australia the week before the Test was beneficial because it allowed us more time to overcome the jetlag, and especially outside of the Test week itself as well,” said Snyman.
“The guys are now well settled into the time zone, and we are training full-out and feel good, so we are excited about Saturday’s match.”
The Springboks go into Saturday’s clash on back of a drawn home series with world number two Ireland and a big win with a rotated side against Portugal.
Snyman says facing Ireland, who were coached by Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt between 2013 and 2019, has given the Springboks an ideal preparation for tackling Australia.
“I don’t think we could have had better preparation than facing Ireland going into the Rugby Championship, and we certainly learned a few things in those matches which we would like to carry into this competition.
“Playing Ireland prepared us really well, because they have a lot of systems set up from being coached by Joe Schmidt. There will be some differences, with Australia’s style of play and their players, but in a lot of ways there will be similarities.
“We are looking forward to facing that challenge as well.”
With South Africa’s domestic teams having switched from the southern hemisphere’s Super Rugby to the northern hemisphere’s Vodacom URC, the Springboks haven’t faced their Australian counterparts with the regularity that they used to.
Snyman said that this just means that Boks will have to work even hard to ensure they are prepared for a new-look Wallabies team, featuring plenty of exciting youngsters.
“The preparation is different these days because we don’t face their players during the season as we did in the past, so there’s a lot more work that goes into analysing the players and their style of play,” he said.
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
