Wallabies target Boks as Fiji demolished
After successive wins over the Welsh, the Wallabies made it three-from-three in 2007 with a workmanlike 49-0 win over the Fijians here on Saturday, but are under no illusions of the enormity of the task ahead of them in the Tri-Nations clash.
Having experimented with his line-up in the first three Tests of the season, Wallabies coach John Connolly has declared his intention to pick a full-strength side for Saturday’s game.
The Australians have cut seven players from their 25-man squad for the clash with the Springboks, with six Wallabies already in South Africa and the remainder of team joining them this morning.
David Lyons, Digby Ioane, Hugh McMeniman, Rob Blake, James Horwill, Sam Norton-Knight and Cameron Shepherd were all released and are likely to play for Australia A against the Junior All Blacks next weekend.
Speaking after the win over Fiji, veteran Wallabies fly half Stephen Larkham said the Cape Town Test was the signal for the Australians to lift their intensity.
“It is going to be a massive challenge and a very important stepping stone towards the World Cup,” he said.
“Whilst the emphasis is certainly on winning the World Cup, we certainly need to have good form going into the World Cup and we need to have a little bit of confidence against sides we are potentially going to meet.
“There is a good chance we will play them, and to get a psychological advantage out of the Tri-Nations would be a bonus for either side. We have made improvements over the past couple of weeks...next week is obviously going to be a our biggest Test of the year.”
Springbok rugby is buoyant after the Super 14 season, which was won by a South African side for the first time, while the national team has trounced England twice and Samoa recently.
Fellow Wallabies veteran George Gregan has seen plenty of the Springboks over the years and rates the current outfit as the one of the best he’s encountered.
“It is definitely the most confident Springbok side and the most balanced Springbok side I have seen going into a Tri-Nations, on the back of two of the teams playing in a Super 14 final, and it was a great final,” the scrum-half said.
“They will be buoyed by that, and that has flowed into the Springbok rugby. They are going in with a lot of confidence, and they did a number on the English. So we have got them on the top of their game.”
Meantime, injured Wallaby full back Chris Latham is looking to make a comeback towards the end of the Tri-Nations, Connolly said.
Five months after he ruptured knee ligaments in a pre-season training game for the Queensland Reds, Latham is preparing a return in club rugby.
Connolly has confirmed Latham’s recuperation has gone better than expected and an appearance in the Tri-Nations against South Africa and New Zealand was the hope.
“He is well ahead of schedule apparently. He will come back through a club game or two, and then we would look at putting him straight in (to the Test side),” Connolly said.
“He is targeting South Africa (in Sydney on July 7), but the realistic view from the doctor here is the last All Black game (in Auckland on July 21).”
A Ashley-Cooper, A Baxter, M Chisholm, S Cordingley, M Dunning, R Elsom, A Freier, M Gerrard, M Giteau, G Gregan, S Hoiles, J Huxley, S Larkham, D Mitchell, S Moore, S Mortlock (c), W Palu, B Robinson, N Sharpe, G Shepherdson, G Smith, S Staniforth, L Tuqiri, D Vickerman, P Waugh (c).
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