Wallabies will face biggest challenge in world rugby at Loftus
NEWS: Wallabies forwards coordinator Neal Hatley reckons there is no harder place in the world to test their forwards than against the Springboks at altitude in Pretoria on Saturday.
Hatley, a former prop who played 193 matches in the Premiership for Bath and Bedford, told a media briefing on Friday the Australians will have to be aggressive in all aspects of forward play.
“There’s not many places harder in world rugby than the Springboks at Loftus, so it will give us a good benchmark of where we are,” Hatley said.
“You have to be aggressive, you have to be competitive at scrum, the line-outs and the driving maul. If you come over here and you roll over, you’ll get murdered.
“So we’ve got to make sure that we are aggressive in all those aspects.
“I sense real belief [among the players] – as a group we have been together just on two weeks, so cohesion and timing is always the biggest thing that you are trying to build. And the Brumbies obviously came in after their last game.
“I think we are in a really good place. I can’t fault anybody, the effort has been unbelievable, the attitude, the intent, the training. So for us, we are just going to keep striving to make sure we get more and more cohesive, and we just become better as a pack.”
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Talking about the young 22-year-old Tom Hooper, who has been selected at flank for his first appearance in Wallaby gold, Hatley said the youngster has been outstanding in training.
“He has been unbelievable. Obviously, we’ve watched a lot of the Brumbies players, and Hoops hasn’t played that much rugby. He had one or two niggles, but he has been outstanding since he’s come in.
“He’s a big lad and he’s really physical so we can’t wait to see him go tomorrow [Saturday].
He made special mention of the giant Wallaby second row Will Skelton – one of the largest professional rugby players in the sport.
“He has been immense in all aspects, his physicality, his size. The last two or three years he has probably been the stand-out tight forward in Europe in their French competition, which is a tough competition.
“And then in the European competition. They’ve [La Rochelle] won the European competition two years in a row and that pack has been built around him.
“The Springboks have some real problem makers, there is no Malcolm Marx, but they have Mbongeni Mbonambi. Look, they’ve got incredible depth. We know from a tight five point of view, we’ve seen it before, their bomb squad,” Hatley commented.
“We respect the South African pack immensely and South African forward play. That’s why it is an exciting challenge to start with, to play this team, this pack of forwards at this ground.
“It will probably be the biggest challenge for us moving forward.
“I don’t think missing one or two key players is an issue for them. It going to be a huge challenge for us and some of our guys who are making their debut in Test rugby at altitude in Pretoria against the Springboks. It’s a hell of a way to start. ”
