“It’s always physical playing against Australia”, says Springboks coach Heyneke Meyer.
The last time Heyneke Meyer set foot on Australian soil he heaped praise at the feet of the Wallabies and promptly directed they be torn apart at Suncorp Stadium a few days later.
There was an ominous familiarity then in Meyer’s comments this week in Perth, where South Africa are angling for a ninth-straight Test win and fourth on the trot against a wounded Australia.
Wallabies, a bad team? They’re “brilliant”, but played “one bad game”. The Australian forwards, “powder puffs”? Never. The Wallabies’ back line is “big, quick and in form”, with a newly-acquired kicking game and two “world-class” players on the bench.
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“We said to the guys if we’re going to win this game we’re going to have to make more than 200 tackles, which is very high for international [rugby] but that’s what it took last time [in Brisbane],” Meyer said.
“This back line will punish you if you’re not at your best defensively and we’re nervous … It’s going to be an open game with two great back lines facing each other.”
There is nothing disingenuous about Meyer’s comments. He attributed the Springboks’ 90 per cent win rate over their past 20 Tests to the respect they afford their opposition – both publicly and in private.
His selection’s bear that out. The former Bulls coach has turned to his most experienced players, including Morne Steyn, Victor Matfield and Ruan Pienaar, in anticipation of a fierce physical and tactical battle for supremacy in the third round of the Rugby Championship.
But after a game in which the Wallabies’ forwards proved incapable of re-gathering in the face of an All Blacks onslaught, the coach of one of the most physical packs in international rugby might be entitled to ask a few questions.
Instead, Meyer scoffed at the term “powder puff” as it was applied to the Wallabies by New Zealand media after their 51-20 thumping at Eden Park.
“I don’t believe that,” he said. “We [South African teams] played 10 games here in Super Rugby [this year] and I think we won one – that was the Sharks. You don’t lost nine games against guys who aren’t physical enough and don’t get into the confrontation.
“They have a good scrum, they’re physical on defence. I have a lot of respect for a guy like [Michael] Hooper, he’s a captain and he leads from the front. It’s always physical playing against Australia.
“Where Australia is a great side is they have the physicality and they also have the skill, and that makes it difficult to defend.”
Matfield, a revered lineout wizard who retired in 2011 before staging his comeback via the Bulls in Super Rugby this year, makes his first appearance of the competition and his fourth start this season.
The 113-Test veteran will anchor a pack averaging 45 Test caps per player. Tendai “the Beast” Mtawarira returns to the starting line up in a fearsome front row, with Jannie du Plessis at tighthead and Adriaan Strauss getting the nod over Bismarck du Plessis at hooker for his first starting role this season.
Matfield will partner imposing youngster Eben Etzebeth in the second row. The 203cm, 22-year-old has some history in Perth – he was suspended for two weeks for head-butting Wallabies second-rower Nathan Sharpe in Australia’s 26-19 victory in 2012.
In the back line, Meyer has dropped promising young five-eighth Handre Pollard and will start Steyn for the first time since June. Patrick Lambie is on the bench.
Meyer said a 50 per cent chance of rain on Saturday made the Sharks playmaker, who can cover fullback, a safer bet.
Elsewhere, 187cm centre Jan Serfontein joins captain Jean de Villiers in the mid-field, while Bryan Habana is set to play his 100th Test on the wing with rookie Cornal Hendricks on the right wing and Willie Le Roux at fullback.
It is a back line with the smarts and experience to handle whatever the Wallabies throw at them, and the fire and pace out wide to punish any mistakes made by their “brilliant” opponents.