Australia’s Allan Alaalatoa ready for physical Springboks in Rugby Championship opener
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Eddie Jones' second stint as Wallabies coach begins against the Springboks on Saturday in the Rugby Championship.
PHOTO: AFP
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JOHANNESBURG – For Australia prop Allan Alaalatoa, matching South Africa’s physicality and playing “smart footie” will be the keys to success in their Rugby Championship opener on Saturday, with the chance to make history in Pretoria.
Australia hope to make it seventh time lucky at Loftus Versfeld, having lost on their previous six visits, as they begin a new era under coach Eddie Jones with just a handful of matches to fine-tune their plans ahead of the Rugby World Cup in France.
“Our goal heading into this weekend is to focus on ourselves and play a brand of footie Australia will be proud of. Entertaining and smart footie with a (physical) edge around it,” Alaalatoa said on Monday.
“If we do that, we will have every opportunity to get a win and build momentum ahead of the World Cup.”
The visitors are expecting a brutal assault up front from the home side’s forwards and a testing time under the high ball against a Springbok side who target those two areas for weaknesses in opponents.
“We have to understand their strengths. As a forward pack, we have spoken about how they pride themselves on their set piece. Scrum and maul, they will do that until the cows come home,” Alaalatoa said.
“They base their game around physicality and it is important for us to understand that. We just have to go toe-to-toe, our backs will then add the smartness around the game.
“It is a great challenge, it is something we are excited by. Being part of the first Australian team to beat South Africa in Pretoria would be awesome.”
Australia have not played in South Africa since 2019 and with Super Rugby no longer featuring franchises from the latter, several of the touring squad have not been challenged on African soil before.
“Our leaders have shared their experiences of playing in Pretoria at altitude. It was really good to hear, it was so valuable to the young players who will be feeding off those guys at the weekend,” Alaalatoa said.
“We know for sure there will be players who are nervous, some boys haven’t played in a while, other boys are playing their first game (in South Africa).
“We have spoken about those scenarios through the week, so when it comes we are ready to face it.”
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