Springboks hoping for improved attacking showing against Wallabies

The Springboks will be aiming for an improved showing on attack when they take on the Wallabies in the first two Tests of the Rugby Championship Down Under over the coming weeks.

Although the Boks ran riot with a thrilling attacking display in their last Test against Portugal, scoring 10 tries, that was with a largely fringe team against a tier-two nation, so is not a true reflection of their attacking threat.

Where it was on show was their two-Test series against Ireland, and they did show glimpses of what they can do in the first Test when they ran in three tries, but they struggled in the second Test as they didn’t cross the whitewash, with all their points coming from penalties.

Bok coach Rassie Erasmus admitted that they weren’t entirely happy with their attacking performance in that second Test, but that it was tough to judge due to a number of variables.

“The first 30 minutes of the second Test (against Ireland) we just didn’t pitch up. Our mindset was good and physically we were there, but we just weren’t as sharp as we want to be,” explained Erasmus.

“So we have looked at what we did in that specific week. They are the number two team in the world and they beat us with a drop goal right at the end to level the series. I think they scored one try in that game and we just had penalties.

Organised defence

“Both defences were really organised in that Test match. They also know us well because we had played them in the World Cup and in Ireland. So it is very difficult to judge that second Test match.

“We had a six-two split and Willie (le Roux) went down with concussion in the first few minutes, which played a big part of our game (struggling) attacking wise.

“But then again we need to foresee things like that happening and have the answers to that, which we didn’t in that match. So we weren’t happy overall with how we attacked in that Irish Test match.”

Looking at the Australian games Erasmus knows that they will be facing a different challenge to what they have in previous years, after the Wallabies struggled massively which culminated in them missing out on the World Cup knockouts last year.

But they are now being coached by former Irish head coach and former All Blacks assistant coach Joe Schmidt, and he will bring something new to the team.

“It’s definitely new under Joe. 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 and he knows me well and the way I coach,” said Erasmus.

“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.”