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Jake: Win will ease taxing week
15/06/2007 08:25 - (SA)
Cape Town - John Smit's Springboks will be looking to give their coach the perfect start in this year's Tri-Nations when they clash with Australia at Newlands on Saturday.
It has been a taxing week for South Africa coach Jake White, who was cleared of a misconduct charge following an incident in a Johannesburg night spot last week.
A Cape Town journalist, who was punched on the ear moments after an altercation with White, linked the Springboks coach to the incident and laid a complaint with the South African Rugby Union.
White has also had to come to terms with the news that his two first-choice scrumhalves - Fourie du Preez and Ricky Januarie - would not be available this weekend, while star wing Bryan Habana could miss the entire Tri-Nations competition because of injury.
White has also had his on-off "courtesy call" with President Thabo Mbeki postponed.
White though has remained upbeat throughout the week - and for good reason. He has still been able to select a powerful side to take on the Wallabies and the Springboks will go into the competition in confident mood.
The Boks have beaten England, twice, and Samoa on consecutive Saturdays, while South Africa enjoyed their best performance in this year's Super 14, with the Bulls beating the Sharks in the Durban final.
No indicator
In contrast Australia battled to make an impact in the Super 14, while the Wallabies produced up and down form in their Tests against Wales and Fiji before this weekend's Tri-Nations opener.
Both coaches, however, have been able to select strong outfits for the match and as history tells us Super 14 form is no indicator of what will happen in the Test arena.
The Wallabies are looking to win their first game in South Africa since triumphing 19-18 in Durban seven years ago, but their coach John Connelly is fully aware of the task at hand even if he has selected his strongest lineup this year.
Matt Giteau is restored at inside centre, George Gregan is back at scrumhalf and in locks Dan Vickerman and Nathan Sharpe the visitors have lineout men who could, potentially, cause a few problems for the likes of Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha.
"They've got a lot of depth and are probably in the best shape for some time," Connelly said. "They're confident after their recent successes so it's going to be a pretty enormous challenge for us."
One area where the visitors are again likely to struggle is in the scrums. South African tighthead prop BJ Botha annihilated Samoa's Justin Va'a last weekend - so much so that the Wallabies have called Botha a cheat.
Major threat
It is not something that is not likely to bother the home side who with their formidable pack, lineout men and skilled back division will pose a major threat to the Australians.
Ruan Pienaar, who'll make his first start in the No 9 jersey after playing in eight previous Tests off the bench, will bring a different element to the game and he's sure to keep Gregan on his toes.
White has also opted for the more mobile Pierre Spies at No 8 instead of the more physical, direct approach of Danie Rossouw, who'll warm the bench.
"Pierre gets around the field quicker than Danie and against Australia (who like to spread the ball around) he's the right man for the job," said White.
With just three months to go before the start of the World Cup in France there's a lot at stake for both sides.
White will be keen to prove his detractors wrong, while Connelly will want to show that there is nothing wrong with Australian rugby at Test level.
Teams:
South Africa:
Percy Montgomery, Ashwin Willemse, Jaque Fourie, Jean de Villiers, JP Pietersen, Butch James, Ruan Pienaar, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, John Smit (captain), Gurthro Steenkamp.
Replacements: 16 Gary Botha, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Johann Muller, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Michael Claassens, 21 Wynand Olivier, 22 Francois Steyn.
Australia:
Julian Huxley; Drew Mitchell, Stirling Mortlock (captain), Matt Giteau, Lote Tuqiri; Stephen Larkham, George Gregan; Wycliff Palu, George Smith, Rocky Elsom; Dan Vickerman, Nathan Sharpe, Guy Shepherdson, Stephen Moore, Matt Dunning.
Replacements: Adam Freier, Al Baxter, Mark Chisholm, Stephen Hoiles, Phil Waugh, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Mark Gerrard
Kick-off: 15:00 SA time
Referee: Wayne Barnes (England)
- AFP
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