Delayed Boks face yet another under pressure coach

The Springboks leave for Australia at the start of a testing tour that will define their southern hemisphere international season in what over the past few weeks has been a familiar position - they are up against a team with a coach who is under pressure.

The Boks were forced to delay their scheduled departure on Thursday due to the cancellation of their flight to Sydney. They play the Wallabies in Adelaide next weekend before proceeding to Sydney for the second game in Australia before they head to Argentina and the first of two matches against the Pumas. We wouldn’t say this is the defining moment of the year for the Boks, for the games that will decide where the Boks really stand in the build-up to next year’s World Cup will probably be those in November against Ireland and France, the current front-runners in the world rankings.

However, if they want to win their second Rugby Championship title, the games on this three match tour will be decisive. And they could also be decisive in determining the future of Dave Rennie as Wallaby coach.

MAKE OR BREAK TIME FOR RENNIE

While to many there has been allround improvement to the Wallabies under former Chiefs and Glasgow Warriors mentor Rennie, the record defeat to Argentina in San Juan last week, following on from the home series defeat to England, has increased focus on the current coach. Some sections of the Australian media are describing the games against the Boks as make or break for Rennie.

It hasn’t helped that the significant figures in the opposition dug-out in both the England series and the games against the Los Pumas were ex-Wallaby coaches, Eddie Jones and Michael Cheika respectively.

The fine-print of last week’s heavy defeat though needs proper perusal though before it can be taken as a strong indication the Boks should feel confident ahead of next weekend’s first game in Adelaide, that actually starts a three match trip that also includes the first game against the Pumas in Argentina three weeks later.

KEY WALLABIES RETURN

The Wallabies were severely depleted by issues related to injury and the so-called Giteau law relating to which foreign based players can be selected, as well of course as captain Michael Hooper’s withdrawal from the team in the build-up to the opening game of the back to back clashes against Argentina.

Hooper isn’t back, but some key Wallaby players have been returned to the 32-man squad that will do duty in the two matches against the Boks, with next weekend’s 15.00 kick-off in Adelaide (07.30 SA time) being followed by a more traditional 19.30 kick-off in Sydney.

The first choice squad players who have been returned for the clashes with the world champions include props Allan Alaatoa, who missed the games against Argentina for personal reasons, Angus Bell (toe) and Scott Sio (shoulder), while the two frontline hookers Folau Fainga’a and Dave Porecki, both return after serving out the mandatory concussion protocols.

In the backs, Hunter Paisami (concussion) and Andrew Kelleway (hamstring) are both back to push for selection in a team that also welcomes back Bernard Foley for his first selection since 2019. The big news for many Australians was the axing of James O’Connor, who Rennie described as “clunky” in what was effectively a trial game for O’Connor to see if he was still up to international standard now that one of the youngest Wallabies ever is 32.

Kurtley Beale, an old nemesis of the Boks, has not been included either as he comes back from an injury lay-off, although Beale will be part of the Wallaby camp as they prepare for the Bok challenge as Rennie assesses his readiness for a return to the team later in the year.

SIMILAR POSITION TO WHERE FOSTER WAS

Rennie admitted that the width of the losing margin to Argentina was a severe embarrassment to both him and his team and it had been a long and introspective flight home. Sound familiar? The All Blacks under Ian Foster have been in a similar position in recent times, but one win over the Boks has been enough to retain Foster his job.

A win over the Boks will probably give Rennie some breathing space too, and he needs it as his win per centage as Wallabies coach is 40 per cent. That stat is starting to attract increasing scrutiny by an Australian media and rugby public that perhaps doesn’t quite understand that there’s no quick fix that will overnight take the Wallabies back to where they were as world champions in the 1990s.

Like perhaps is the case with New Zealand, who appear to have learned a lot from playing the Boks and Ireland but are likely to still suffer from the absence of South African teams for Super Rugby, the Australian rugby problems may run a bit deeper than just who is coaching the national team.

What we do know is that the one team Rennie should be confident against though if you just take his record against different opposition into account, it is the Springboks. He brilliantly scripted two wins over the Boks when the Rugby Championship was played in its entirety on Australian soil in 2021.

DIFFERENT CHALLENGE FOR THE BOKS

In the first game the Wallabies were a bit lucky, winning with a late penalty against a Bok team that was probably the better of the two sides on the day, but in the second the win was more comprehensive. It would have left Bok coach Jacques Nienaber with plenty to think about and mull over, and he gave an indication after the Johannesburg game against the All Blacks last week that playing the Wallabies is a very different challenge to playing other teams.

Part of that is because of the brain matter and tactical acumen, and sometimes that extends to tactics that are borderline legal in order to negate opposition strengths, that the Wallabies have to rely on to be competitive against teams that have more formidable and physical forward units.

What is different for the Boks this time in comparison to just about every other visit to Australia in the professional era is that the two games won’t be an entree for the big deal of playing the All Blacks in New Zealand.

This trip stands on its own and the mission in the two games should be a simple one as wins will put the Boks within touching distance of winning the Championship, depending of course on how the All Blacks fair in their own matches against the Wallabies and Pumas.

CONFIDENT THEY CAN HANDLE THE DELAY

Nienaber said it was important to adapt to the travel delay forced on them by the flight cancellation rather than allow it to have a negative impact on their planning and said: “We are a solution-driven team and we will not gain anything by allowing unforeseen circumstances such as this to derail our plans.

“The coaches and conditioning staff have already adapted our training programme to suit our delayed arrival in Australia and we will get back down to business as soon as possible when we arrive Down Under.

“Fortunately this group of players have been together all season and they know our game plan and what we need to do to get our Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign back on track, and that is our sole focus at this point.

“We lost a little preparation and travel recovery time, but we have a massive task ahead of us, so we will do everything possible to adapt to the conditions and time zone as quickly as possible once we arrive in Australia and return to the training field.”

The Boks are set to arrive in Adelaide on Saturday afternoon.

Springbok Castle Lager Rugby Championship tour - Live on SuperSport

Australia v South Africa (Adelaide, 27 August, 07.30)

Australia v South Africa (Sydney, 3 September, 11.35)

Argentina v South Africa (Buenos Aires, 17 September, 21.10)

All times are SA standard time