The South African Tri-Nations rugby union squad flew to Australasia on Thursday, leaving behind a nation hoping for the best and fearing the worst.
Springbok victories in New Zealand and Australia come as often as snow in Johannesburg and coach Rudolf Straeuli accepts that his squad are outsiders in Wellington on July 20 and in Brisbane one week later.
”We’re not even close to our rivals in many aspects of the game, but there is a lot of excitement and belief among the players which encourages me,” he said.
When Straeuli succeeded Harry Viljoen as coach last March his first goal was to develop a winning culture in a national team that won just five of 11 Tests last year. This has been achieved with four consecutive victories.
Retirements, injuries and emigration meant the former Springbok flanker and number eight who helped his country win the 1995 World Cup virtually had to start from scratch.
His biggest find has been Brent Russell, a fair-haired, slightly built former sevens player who can fill any backline position. Fears that he might miss the tour due to a hamstring injury were dispelled on Wednesday.
Straeuli also appears to have solved the flyhalf problem created when Braam van Straaten opted for English club Leeds. South Africa consider only local players for Test selection.
While lacking imagination, Van Straaten was a magnificent goal kicker from any distance or angle and his ice-cool nerves meant no crowd could intimidate him.
Enter Andre Pretorius. Another former sevens player, he has flair and last Saturday in Pretoria missed just one of 10 shots at goal against Samoa, and that was a touchline conversion attempt which struck a post.
Springbok followers will draw some comfort from 21 tries in home wins over Wales (twice), Argentina and Samoa, but the backline has looked extremely suspect at times when forced to defend.
One newspaper report of the 60-18 victory over Samoa suggested that if Straeuli reviewed the match on video, half his team would be cowering under chairs.
The first Samoan try was a case in point as the Pacific islanders ran the ball from behind their own goalline and when Fereti Tuilagi dived over, those closest to him also wore blue.
Russell will challenge Werner Greeff for the fullback slot, Stefan Terblanche, Marius Joubert, De Wet Barry and Dean Hall are the likely threequarters and Pretorius and Johannes Conradie the halfbacks.
Poor lineout jumping has been a glaring weakness in the build-up to the annual southern hemisphere championship with only Jannes Labuschagne escaping criticism.
Victor Matfield, dropped after the first Wales Test due to a lack of aggression, returned against Samoa without achieving any great heights and many consider him lucky to tour ahead of Hottie Louw.
The Springboks have also been turned over far too often against packs considerably inferior to those they are about to encounter in hostile territory.
A plus has been the form of young flanker Joe van Niekerk, who culminated a superb showing against Samoa with a try, and the scrum has improved after being pushed back several times in their first encounter with the Welsh.
Props Ollie le Roux and Willie Meyer and hooker James Dalton are the likely front row with Labuschagne and Matfield at lock, captain Corne Krige and Van Niekerk the flanks and glamour boy Bobby Skinstad at number eight.
South Africa will prepare for the All Blacks in the Australian city of Brisbane, arriving in Wellington just two days before the second Tri-Nations fixture. New Zealand host world champions Australia Saturday. – Sapa-AFP
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