When the Springboks lose, history suggests you should expect a thunderclap in reply. And Nick Frost knows it. The lanky Wallaby lock may have soared high in Johannesburg last weekend, stealing lineouts like a cat burglar under a spotlight, but even he admits that Saturday’s Rugby Championship sequel in Cape Town will be a different beast entirely.
Probably in that opening 20-odd minutes, we didn’t win too many collisions. We know how the Springboks play, they come out hard and fast, and we struggled a bit there… It’s another area that we’re definitely going to look at for this week coming up, because we know they started pretty bloody well.
This is the eternal danger of beating South Africa because they don’t lick their wounds, they sharpen their claws. With Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus injecting ten new players into his side, the Boks have the look of a pack reloaded and ready to hunt. As Frost bluntly put it:
I’m pretty sure the Springboks are going to double down on what they did at the start: tactical kicking, physicality, big ball carriers, good defence, and they really pinned us in our own 22.
The Wallabies nicked key moments in the confidence boosting win in Johannesburg, but the cracks were clear, especially in the set piece.
It was definitely a double-edged sword. We did lose a few and they put a whole lot of pressure on us. Always going up against the Springboks, it’s going to be a set-piece battle. It was good, potentially in that defensive space. But we’ve got to look at our attack heading forward from there because we did lose a couple against the throw, and a couple in big moments there which could have potentially hurt us.
The difference this time? A Joe Schmidt [Wallaby coach] system bedding in with the discipline of a drill sergeant and the precision of a chess grandmaster. Laurie Fisher’s fingerprints are on the detail too, his mantra echoing through Tom Hooper’s retelling that the team is “in the business of getting better.”
Frost agrees:
It’s been great under Joe. I think all the boys and staff have been enjoying the environment, first and foremost, and it’s translated into a performance like that [from the weekend].
Yet Frost isn’t sugar-coating it: Cape Town will be hostile, the Boks will be ruthless, and the Wallabies can’t afford another sluggish start.
Tuesday was a pretty heavy day. We know if we don’t test ourselves during the week, we don’t really set ourselves up for a good performance on the weekend.
Here’s the truth: the Wallabies may have stunned Ellis Park, but the Boks rarely drop two in a row at home. Frost may be preparing for a fight at the lineout, but he and Australia better brace for far more than that.
Cape Town is bracing for a Boklash. And when South Africa comes out swinging, history says opponents usually end up flat on the canvas.
