25 August 2009 – www.supersport.com 

Popular opinion may be that the injury-hit Wallabies don’t have much firepower to scare the Springboks in Saturday’s Tri-Nations test in Perth, but there were alarming signs that the South Africans may have allowed some complacency to creep into their camp when only their reserves arrived in Western Australia on Tuesday.

Complacency is, of course, a lethal danger for any successful team and Peter de Villiers and John Smit will no doubt be keen to kill off any such mental slackness in the side, particularly since the Tri-Nations is still far from won.

Which makes it inexplicable that De Villiers and Smit chose to send nine players who will almost certainly not start on Saturday to Perth as the advance party. It means the starting XV will arrive at lunchtime on Wednesday after a nine-hour flight and, by the time they have gone through customs and checked in to the Sheraton Hotel in the city, it will leave them with just Thursday to train seriously for Saturday’s hugely important match. Friday’s captain’s run will just be an opportunity to go through the lineout calls and get accustomed to the Subiaco Oval.

The fact that Schalk Burger was in that group of nine suggests that if the 2004 IRB Player of the Year is to play any part in Saturday’s test, it will be in the role of substitute coming off the bench.

De Villiers said earlier this week that the breakdowns would play a key role in Saturday’s test and, with Heinrich Brussow in such destructive form in the home leg of the Tri-Nations, the Free Stater will once again be an important cog in the Springboks’ plans.

There had been speculation that both Burger and Brussow could play together in the loose trio, particularly with Juan Smith struggling with an ankle injury, but this now seems unlikely.

Burger, who has had little game time this year, is the only player of real note to be sent over early – the others are obvious non-starters in lock Andries Bekker, centre Adrian Jacobs, scrumhalf Enrico Januarie, flank Ryan Kankowski, wing Odwa Ndungane, centre Wynand Olivier and props Jannie du Plessis and Gurthro Steenkamp.

If any of those players were to be brought into the team, disrupting the momentum created by three straight victories, it would be a major surprise, but one has to wonder why they have been given an extra day in Perth to prepare for their peripheral roles.

The original reason for sending the squad over in two batches was the lack of business class seats on the flight to Perth, but the sight of the “wrong” group of players arriving on Tuesday puts question marks over the preparation of the Springboks.