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Wallabies may have more to play for
The Springboks will start Saturday’s final Tri-Nations test in Bloemfontein as clear favourites, but they should beware of underestimating the Wallabies, for the visitors do give the impression they may just have more to play for than their hosts.
While the Boks are always expected to win against Australia on the Highveld and thus have little to gain as they come to the end of a highly disappointing and under-performing campaign, Rocky Elsom’s team do have the carrot of trying to achieve something special. The first team to break the long duck at altitude in South Africa will be remembered for a long time, and the Wallabies know it.
“This is a very important test match for us, particularly coming off the back of last week, where we so nearly created a bit of history for ourselves,” says wing Drew Mitchell, who at Vodacom Park will be celebrating the milestone of his 50th cap in the gold jersey.
“The Highveld bogey is something we have talked about a lot, we know it has been a long time since an Australian team has won there, and we know it is a losing sequence we must break. We feel we are very close now to breaking through the barrier and creating a bit of history.”
If you listen to the members of the respective camps speak, it is hard not to arrive at the conclusion that one of them is delusional. Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has spoken about how his team controlled the game last week -- then again he seems to think his team was unlucky to lose the matches in New Zealand and Australia! -- whereas the Wallabies feel they dominated significant periods of it and gifted a game that they should have won.
MISSED OPPORTUNITY
Every Wallaby who has gone in front of the media this week has spoken of a missed opportunity, and Mitchell was no different as he referred to the improved confidence that the Wallabies got out of the Pretoria test.
“I think the boys have grown their self-belief after last week, that first half was extremely encouraging for us. I know it didn’t go well in the second half, and that was disappointing. We only managed three points after half-time even though we had plenty of opportunities, and that is something we are going to have to rectify.
“It is not as if we don’t believe we can beat these guys. We have beaten them twice in Brisbane in the last year, we know we can do it. Certain parts of last week’s game we definitely showed we are more than capable. It is just a case of us needing to be more consistent through the 80 minutes and to beware of giving away points immediately after we have scored ourselves. We did that too often last week.”
Of course, an additional motivation for the Wallabies is the knowledge that they still have one game to go after this, and it is a big one against the All Blacks in Sydney just a week after their flight home. They will want to be getting on the plane on Sunday with the confidence that would have come with achieving the first win over the Boks at altitude since 1963.
“It is a tremendous honour for me to get my 50th cap, but this match is also hugely important for the team as we want to achieve something that we have been talking about and looking for for quite a few years now.
“Everything has gone well for us this week, we have spoken a lot about accountability and ownership of our positions, and we are looking to build on the good first half we produced in Pretoria,” said Mitchell.
The Wallabies will move from their current base in Umhlanga Rocks on the Kwa-Zulu-Natal north coast to Bloemfontein later on Thursday.
