Moore: Talk is cheap
The Wallabies hope to do their talking on the Newlands pitch, when they face off against a powerful Springbok team on Saturday.
The Rugby Championship Round Five fixture is a 'must win' game for South Africa, who probably also need a bonus point to stay in touch with the table-topping New Zealanders.
However, first they have to overcome a Wallaby team that is determined to improve on the solitary one-point win they have managed in four Tests under new coach Ewen Mckenzie.
While the Boks will be outright favourites, given their record 38-12 win over the Wallabies in Brisbane just under three weeks ago, the Aussies feel they have made significant enough progress to turn the tables on their hosts this week.
Veteran hooker Stephen Moore said their 14-13 triumph over Argentina in Perth last time out has given the team the believe that they can mix it with a team like the Boks.
Describing it as a "good result for the group", the 30-year-old said you could see the confidence improving and lifting in the team since their victory in Perth.
He admitted a full Newlands presents a very daunting challenge, but felt the Wallabies can silence the crowd by starting well.
"There is no hiding from it," he said of the venue, adding: "[You] just have to embrace it.
"It is a wonderful ground to play at when it is full for a Test match.
"I've said to the boys: 'Enjoy it and soak it up'.
"The start of the game is going to be ferocious – there will be balls in the air, there will be a lot of physical contact. We have to make sure we get on the right side of that.
"We know how big a challenge it is and we have to play really well. We are confident we can do that.
"At the end of the day, talk is cheap – we have to go out and do it."
With more that 80 Test caps worth of experience Moore will be one of the key players if the Wallabies are to turn around their fortunes.
He pointed to a massive improvement in the scrums and being able to dominate the Boks physically as key areas of the Tests.
In Brisbane South Africa dominated the set pieces and Moore admitted it remains an area of concern.
"The scrum has been pretty messy across the board," he said, adding: "[We were] pretty disappointing the last time we played South Africa.
"We spoke a lot about that, but we just got to go out there and do it."
The Wallabies are also having to make some adjustments to their game plan under the new head coach, McKenzie.
"Obviously it is still very early in the tenure of [head coach] Ewen [Mckenzie] and I guess we are still finding the best game plan that suits us and the best game plan that he wants us to play," Moore said.
"It hasn't been perfect to date, but we've adjusted a few things – not massive things, but just little things that are important in Test football, and that has helped us a lot against Argentina.
"Hopefully it will be the same this week."
While he expects the Boks to stick to the way they know and the way they like to play – which is very much a field position game and putting the opposition under pressure in their half – Moore said the challenge for Australia is to make sure they play at the right end of the field.
"When we do that we will create chances for ourselves to score.
"Just as important is the physicality side of things and that is going to be very important – that is where they dominated us in Brisbane.
"That is a very important part of winning a Test over here is getting on top physically."
By Jan de Koning
