Wallabies and Springboks swap identities for clash in the Highveld’s thin air

The frenemies meet in this year’s Rugby Championship opener at Ellis Park where they are expected to rip pages out of the other’s playbook.

TEAM NAMED: South Africa head coach Rassie Erasmus flexed his muscle by naming his team early on Monday ahead of the Rugby Championship opener against Australia.  Pic: CLEMENT MAHOUDEAU/AFP via Getty Images

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.