Wallabies Test is ‘massive’, says Bok boss Rassie

Coach Rassie Erasmus has labelled next Sunday’s one-off Test against the Wallabies in Perth “massive”, and made it clear he and his charges are taking it very seriously.

The Springboks will go into the match on the back of a 3-1 series win against the All Blacks.

Erasmus said Australia was a great rugby country with a long history of rivalry with the Boks. But he made it clear Les Kiss and his outfit would pose a completely different challenge to what they faced in the All Blacks.

“If you think about the rivalry with David Campese and Pieter Hendricks [in the 1995 World Cup opening game] … the fact I played against the likes of George Gregan and Stephen Larkham. They won the World Cup in 2003.

“Australia is a great country, and they’re hosting the World Cup next year so for us it is massive to be able to play against the World Cup hosts.”

He added: “They will be ready and fresh. I think they have won four of their last five Test matches, and we come from a tough series against New Zealand.

“The matches have nothing to do with each other … this will be a totally different challenge.”

Bok skipper Siya Kolisi said the team has taken a “long journey” to get to Australia from Baltimore in the USA where they faced the All Blacks in the fourth Test of their series last weekend.

“Obviously the last few games have been successful for us, but we’ve always had tough battles against Australia and they’re different to New Zealand.

“Our core values will stay the same going into this game, but we’ll have to change a few things.”

Erasmus and his team are training in Sydney and will relocate to Perth at a later time. Next Sunday’s Test starts at 11am.

The Bok team is expected to be named on Monday. Erasmus has given no indication of the makeup of the side, but he is likely to use several of the players who didn’t get much game time during the All Blacks series.

Expect Jesse Kriel, Damian de Allende, Jasper Wiese, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Eben Etzebeth and Malcolm Marx to be rested, while Edwill van der Merwe, Canan Moodie, Handre Pollard, Herschel Jantjies, Franco Mostert and Johan Grobbelaar could all be in the mix to play.