Springboks ‘don’t know what to expect from Wallabies’

Jacques Nienaber says the Springboks will head into the unknown when they take the field in their Rugby Championship opener against Eddie Jones’ Wallabies next week.

The Springboks will kick off their Rugby Championship campaign on Saturday, 8 July, against Australia at Loftus Versfeld, which will be followed by a Test against New Zealand at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland a week later (Saturday, 15 July). They will wrap up the shortened version of the competition against Argentina at Park in Johannesburg on Saturday 29 July.

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Looking ahead at their opening Test of the season against Australia, who will return to the international stage under the guidance of coach Jones, Nienaber said the Bok focus was on their own game, especially with the change in coaching staff in the Wallabies team.

“As we said last week, it’s tough to prepare to face Australia because we’re not sure if they’ll play with an Eddie Jones or Dave Rennie mindset, so the key for us is to focus on ourselves,” said Nienaber. “We have to be able to adapt to whatever they throw at us on the day.”

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Nienaber added: “I’m not entirely sure how they (Australia) are working with their squads,” said Nienaber. “I’ve seen they have two squads with different names, and that one squad will face us and the other remain behind. So everyone is gearing up for the Rugby Championship to build momentum before the World Cup.”

The Springboks will play three World Cup warm-up games after the Rugby Championship against Argentina in Buenos Aires (5 August), Wales in Cardiff (19 August) and New Zealand in London (25 August) before they make the journey to France for the global spectacle.