Boks out to raise the bar
Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer expects higher standards in Australia than his side achieved against Argentina.
Although they beat the Pumas at home and away, neither of the wins were convincing with torrential rain slowing them down in Pretoria before they got out of jail in Salta.
Meyer admitted that he was not satisfied with their two performances thus far, and added that they will have to lift their standards if they are to get the better of a competitive Wallabies outfit.
"Although we got the results against Argentina, our standards are higher than how we performed on the field and we want to improve this weekend.
“It will require a lot of focus and hard work from everyone involved this week. Australia may have lost last weekend against New Zealand, but the week before that they drew in Sydney. We respect them as opposition and can’t afford any slip ups on Saturday.”
“It’s always tough to play away from home, but we also see it as a challenge,” said Meyer.
The Springboks were greeted with pleasant conditions when they arrived in Perth on Sunday, after three days of training in a very cold Johannesburg.
“It’s great to be here and all the players and management are excited to get down to business when we hit the training field on Monday," Meyer said.
The Boks had three hard training sessions at Fourways High School before their departure, which saw them work hard on certain problematic areas of their game such as the scrum which was dominated by the Pumas pack.
“We trained very hard the last couple of days and a few more tough sessions are waiting for us this week," said the Bok coach.
The Springboks face Australia at Patersons Stadium on Saturday. The honours are even between these sides in Western Australia – of the seven matches played there since 1998, each team has won three, while one ended in a draw.
The Boks’ overall record in Australia is 12 wins and one draw out of 34 matches, while the South African Super Rugby franchises also found the going tough there this season, winning only one out of their 10 matches on Australian soil.
