One team boasts some of the most menacing forwards found anywhere in the world. The other is developing a scintillating backline capable of tearing apart any defence. Business as usual, then, for a Wallabies versus Springboks clash. Except this time, like the characters of Freaky Friday, the two sides have switched identities ahead of the first round of the Rugby Championship.
Australia might have lost the British & Irish Lions series but they were one referee’s decision at the breakdown away from causing a seismic upset. That the margin was so small was thanks largely to the thundering cameos of Will Skelton, Rob Valetini, Taniela Tupou and a handful of other meaty men who provided the front-foot grunt that was absent in the first Test in Brisbane.
As for the Boks, under attack coach Tony Brown – the former All Black fly-half – the back-to-back world champions have shed their stereotype. These are no longer the burly brutes of old but sprinters and schemers, running from deep, off-loading in the tackle, unleashing a conveyor belt of diminutive scrum-cap-wearing wingers with nitroglycerin in their boots.
Head coach Rassie Erasmus flexed his muscle by naming his team early on Monday and it carries the promise of the sort of enterprising, running footy that wins over neutrals across the Indian Ocean. Who knows, by the end of this two-Test tour, Australian fans might be calling for their team to play like the Boks.
The freewheeling Manie Libbok has won the three-way battle for the No 10 jersey, edging out the more reliable Handré Pollard and the all-rounder Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. On his inside he’ll have Grant Williams, a zippy scrum-half who prefers sniping through gaps around the fringe to setting up metronomic phases or box-kicking behind a wall. With altitude being a factor at Ellis Park – the stadium in Johannesburg sits 1,800 metres above sea-level, resulting in visiting teams fatiguing late in the piece – the Boks’ half-backs will want to stretch the game as much as possible.
The Wallabies have a poor record in the City of Gold. Their last victory came in 1963 and they have an aggregate score of 207-107 against from their six games there in the professional era. Their most recent visit ended with a 35-17 defeat in the first round of the 2019 Rugby Championship where an attacking Boks fly-half in Elton Jantjies played all 80 minutes.
The Springboks have named the same centre pairing from six years ago with André Esterhuizen linking up with Jesse Kriel. Unlike the creative men inside them, these two are hard-running midfielders and could point to a more direct approach from the Boks once the ball spirals past first receiver. This could also be a nod of respect to the burgeoning relationship between Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii.
Australia haven’t totally changed their identity and still pose threats out wide. It’s just a matter of whether or not the ball can get beyond the midfield. And with 35-year-old James O’Connor to start at fly-half, making his first appearance in gold for three years, the Springboks will target that inside channel with a trio of rangy loose forwards.
There are two open-sides on either flank – the jackaling Marco van Staden and the two-time World Rugby player of the year, Pieter-Steph du Toit. Captain Siya Kolisi has been given licence to play towards the ball which means there’ll be extra pressure on lock Eben Etzebeth and hooker Malcolm Marx to provide oomph in the tight exchanges. The Springboks didn’t have it all their own way at the breakdown against Italy and Georgia recently and have just five forwards on the bench on Saturday, which is light by their standards. As long as Skelton and the other big units can endure the thin air of the Highveld, Australia have a chance of bloodying the Boks’ noses.
A quick word on Skelton; is there any other player whose mere presence alters the way opposition teams defend? His 2.03m 135kg frame falls like a felled redwood and he always seems to do so over the gainline. When he carries he requires the attention of at least two tacklers, pruning the line elsewhere. At the ruck he is immovable, providing guaranteed ball for the incoming cavalry. There’s every chance Erasmus has multiple code-named moves that directly address the conundrum that is Skelton.
Maybe one of them is called the “Foster” or the “Lohan”, in honour of two of the most famous on-screen body-switchers. Whatever the coaches come up with, it will be fascinating watching these two old frenemies tear lumps out of each other while ripping pages out of the other’s playbook.
