By Ken Borland
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 25 (Reuters) – Forwards coach Johann van Graan believes South Africa’s pack will need to replicate their performance from the last match if they are to beat Australia in their Rugby Championship match in Pretoria on Saturday.
The Springboks forwards dominated New Zealand in Dunedin on Sept. 15, but their effort was wasted by some woeful profligacy with the boot as 20 points went begging in the 21-11 loss.
“We’ve worked hard the last few weeks and the front row gave one of their best performances and the loose forwards got stuck in as well,” Van Graan told reporters on Tuesday.
“We can improve on the lineout, where we lost a couple of balls, but the kick-offs were good and so was the ball retention – we had our lowest turnover rate of the whole year.
“I’m really proud of the performance against the All Blacks, we played some of our best rugby and to have 58 percent territory and 52 percent possession against them at home is a great effort.
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t get the points.”
However, Van Graan warned that the Nathan Sharpe-led Wallabies would provide another major challenge to his forwards, much as Australia did when they beat the Springboks 26-19 in Perth on Sept. 8.
“Australia scrummed very well against us and Nathan Sharpe is one of the best locks of all time, so their lineout is tricky and they kick to different places to put you under pressure,” the assistant coach added.
Continued…
