Rassie Erasmus is accepting no excuses as his Springboks hunt just their second win over the Wallabies in Australia during his tenure in the Rugby Championship openers.
Erasmus’ Boks will jet off on Wednesday to Australia for two Tests against the Wallabies to open their 2024 Rugby Championship campaign.
Under Erasmus, the Boks only beaten the Wallabies once in Australia – when Canan Moodie scored on debut in a 24-8 victory in Sydney.
Since rugby went fully professional in 1996, the Springboks won five games against the Wallabies in Australia, where the 2027 World Cup will be held.
“We are certainly well aware,” Erasmus said when asked about the record. “Every year there’s an excuse, whether it’s maybe the first time playing at a venue like Melbourne or whatever.
“We are a team that shouldn’t have excuses. What is a bit different is that in the past we would be in Super Rugby and play week-in, week-out against them. It almost feels like the Rugby Championship and end-of-year tour has swapped around now.
“It’s becoming a bit more difficult because some of the players are new to us. Joe Schmidt certainly isn’t new to us. We know they will be well-organised.
“We are trying a bit of a new approach. We are flying tomorrow [Wednesday]. We trained yesterday and will train today. We will get there on Thursday and have sessions on Friday and Saturday. Then we will try to get into a normal training week.
“Last time when we flew out, we flew on a Sunday and the flight was cancelled – not that it’s an excuse – but we are trying to negate those things. We just want a normal Test week when we get to Australia. They are a proper team with a new coach and will have lots of energy.”
A new-look Wallabies side under former Ireland head coach and All Blacks assistant Schmidt gave 10 players a Test debut during their wins over Wales and Georgia in July.
“It’s definitely new under Joe,” Erasmus said. “I worked under him when I was at Munster. He is a very hard worker. He is definitely a coach who brings the best out of players.
“There are lots of new names in their squad, who we haven’t played against in the last couple of years.
“It will be a big test for us. We’ve done our homework, but it will be tightly contested.”
Photo: Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images
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Src: sarugbymag.co.za
