Australia v South Africa - Teams and Prediction

RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP, ROUND ONE: Springbok captain Siya Kolisi knows that his team will have to hit the ground running in this year’s Rugby Championship if they want to lift that trophy for the first time since 2019.

The Springboks kick off their campaign with a tricky two-match tour in Australia and it all begins in Brisbane on Saturday.

The Wallabies have dominated the Boks at Lang Park over the years. It was back in 2013 when the Boks last tasted victory over their Southern Hemisphere rivals at that venue.

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“Everyone knows that we haven’t done really well in Australia,” said Kolisi.

“We can’t win the Rugby Championship by winning these two games, but you can lose it by not doing well in these two games.

“The most important one for us is this one here.

“We need to be up for it from the word go this coming weekend.”

Springbok assistant coach Mzwandile Stick believes the Wallabies can be a different beast under head coach Joe Schmidt.

“They’ve got players with huge x-factor, so if you are not at your best on the day, those players are good enough to punish you,” said Stick.

“At the moment, they are also in a good space with the new coaching staff.

“If there is a coach that can turn things around for them, you can’t ask for a better one than Joe Schmidt.

“We’ve seen what he has done when he was coaching Ireland.”

Stick added: “It’s very important that we keep improving from where we left off against Portugal and there were certain things that we wanted to fix, especially after losing that game against Ireland in Durban.

“If we don’t pitch up tomorrow [Saturday], a team like the Wallabies can punish us.”

Meanwhile, Australian captain Allan Alaalatoa on Friday conceded that the Wallabies go into the game as underdogs despite the Springboks not having won in Brisbane since 2013.

“We know that we’re not the full product yet, but we’re building towards that,” he said.

Alaalatoa said the Wallabies needed to be able to handle the massive South African tight five if they were to have any chance of an upset.

“They’re well experienced in terms of the number of Test caps that they have,” he said of the Boks’ forwards.

“As a forward pack we’ve spoken about that and we know that’s going to be a massive challenge for us – which we’re excited to face.”

Alaalatoa said the Wallabies were looking forward to playing in front of a sell-out crowd at Lang Park, a ground where they traditionally enjoy success.

“We know that we’ve got a great supporter base here in Queensland and we see it as our fortress,” he said.

“The crowd is going to be massive and we’re going to draw on them every step of the way tomorrow [Saturday].”

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Players to watch

For Australia: West Australian junior Carlo Tizzano will make his Test debut at openside flank. He will have a big job on his hands trying to disrupt the Springboks at the breakdowns. His fellow loose forwards, Harry Wilson and Rob Valetini, are big guys and they will need to stand up physically to the giants in the Springbok pack. In the backline, Noah Lolesio will need to show that he can dictate play against world-class opposition and he has a bit more Test experience than his opposite number, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.

For South Africa: Young gun Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu has dominated headlines this week after Springbok head coach Rassie Erasmus gave him the No.10 jersey for Saturday’s match. He is probably the most exciting and promising player coming out of South Africa at the moment and he displayed some great moments off the bench in his previous Test appearances this year. There will also be a big spotlight on Elrigh Louw who gets the No.8 jersey this weekend. The Springboks want to find a successor to Duane Vermeulen and the Bulls bruiser will get a chance to put his hand up in Brisbane.

Prediction

@rugby365com: South Africa by nine points.

Teams:

Australia: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Len Ikitau, 12 Hunter Paisami, 11 Filipo Daugunu, 10 Noah Lolesio, 9 Jake Gordon, 8 Harry Wilson, 7 Carlo Tizzano, 6 Rob Valetini, 5 Lukhan Salakaia-Loto, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Allan Alaalatoa (captain), 2 Matt Faessler, 1 Isaac Kailea.
Replacements: 16 Josh Nasser, 17 James Slipper, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Luke Reimer, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tom Lynagh, 23 Dylan Pietsch.

South Africa: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Kurt-Lee Arendse, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Elrigh Louw, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 RG Snyman, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ox Nche.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Gerhard Steenekamp, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Ben-Jason Dixon, 20 Marco van Staden, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Handré Pollard.

Date: Saturday, August 10
Venue: Lang Park, Brisbane
Kick-off: 14.30 (06.30 SA time; 04.30 GMT)
Expected weather: It will be mostly sunny with a few clouds. There will be a high of 23°C.
Referee: Luke Pearce (England)
Assistant referees: Paul Williams (New Zealand) and Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)

Photo credit: @Springboks

Additional reporting: AFP