Boks not unbeatable: Wallabies

SYDNEY – The Wallabies are rating their against-the-odds Tri-Nations Test with South Africa next weekend as the pivotal moment in Australia’s campaign to win the World Cup for a third time.

Australia have won just twice in 14 attempts in South Africa since 1992, but scrum-half general George Gregan said considering the lopsided record a Springbok triumph in Cape Town was not a foregone conclusion. The rugby world’s most capped player said the Wallabies were about to confront “the most confident and balanced Springbok side I have seen going into a Tri-Nations.””That is on the back of two of the teams playing in the Super 14 final, and they will be buoyed by that,” Gregan told yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald.”They are going into the (Tri-Nations) series with a lot of confidence, especially as they did a very good number on the England team.So we’ve got them at the top of their game.But beating them is not impossible.”Winger Lote Tuqiri, who celebrated his first Test of the season with two tries in the Wallabies’ 49-0 win over Fiji in Perth last Saturday, said next weekend’s Test was a big game for the Wallabies in the lead-up to September’s World Cup in France.”This is the telling point in our season,” Tuqiri told The Australian.”We’re cruising right now but everyone’s got to be switched on to play next week, which is a pivotal time of the year for us,” said Tuqiri, who has yet to win in the republic in four previous Tests.”I would love to win over there and if we can do that, it would be a massive lift going into the World Cup,” he said.Gregan, entering his 12th and final Tri-Nations campaign, knows how critical it is going into the World Cup for the Wallabies to have banked a stirring memory they can draw on when the going gets tough.”It would be great for the team to start the campaign well with a good win against South Africa,” Gregan said.”They’re a confident team playing well.It’s an enormous challenge but not impossible.”Similarly, when we played New Zealand last year, we stretched them in two of the three Tests …we had moments in those games if we were good enough to close them out and win it.”The big challenge, the big test of this team, is that in these Tests and they will be close to take those moments and gain a lot of confidence.”I guess it’s a shared experience for a team, which we haven’t had for a while.So it’s important we have such a thing leading into a World Cup campaign.”Gregan has learned that having played against the Springboks in 28 of his world record 130 Tests that they are more difficult to beat when their confidence is high.”I think it’s the South African psychology,” Gregan said.”You see it in all their sports.You see it in their cricket.You see it in their rugby.When they’re up, they’re very confident.”Nampa-AFPThe rugby world’s most capped player said the Wallabies were about to confront “the most confident and balanced Springbok side I have seen going into a Tri-Nations.””That is on the back of two of the teams playing in the Super 14 final, and they will be buoyed by that,” Gregan told yesterday’s Sydney Morning Herald.”They are going into the (Tri-Nations) series with a lot of confidence, especially as they did a very good number on the England team.So we’ve got them at the top of their game.But beating them is not impossible.”Winger Lote Tuqiri, who celebrated his first Test of the season with two tries in the Wallabies’ 49-0 win over Fiji in Perth last Saturday, said next weekend’s Test was a big game for the Wallabies in the lead-up to September’s World Cup in France.”This is the telling point in our season,” Tuqiri told The Australian.”We’re cruising right now but everyone’s got to be switched on to play next week, which is a pivotal time of the year for us,” said Tuqiri, who has yet to win in the republic in four previous Tests.”I would love to win over there and if we can do that, it would be a massive lift going into the World Cup,” he said.Gregan, entering his 12th and final Tri-Nations campaign, knows how critical it is going into the World Cup for the Wallabies to have banked a stirring memory they can draw on when the going gets tough.”It would be great for the team to start the campaign well with a good win against South Africa,” Gregan said.”They’re a confident team playing well.It’s an enormous challenge but not impossible.”Similarly, when we played New Zealand last year, we stretched them in two of the three Tests …we had moments in those games if we were good enough to close them out and win it.”The big challenge, the big test of this team, is that in these Tests and they will be close to take those moments and gain a lot of confidence.”I guess it’s a shared experience for a team, which we haven’t had for a while.So it’s important we have such a thing leading into a World Cup campaign.”Gregan has learned that having played against the Springboks in 28 of his world record 130 Tests that they are more difficult to beat when their confidence is high.”I think it’s the South African psychology,” Gregan said.”You see it in all their sports.You see it in their cricket.You see it in their rugby.When they’re up, they’re very confident.”Nampa-AFP