Coach Jake White is working overtime to get his wounded Springboks in the right frame of mind to pull off a spectacular turnaround in Saturday’s Tri-Nations rugby Test with Australia at Sydney’s Olympic stadium.
South African rugby was humiliated in a record 49-0 defeat by the Wallabies in Brisbane three weeks ago and Springbok pride is on the line in the second of three Tri-Nations matches to also decide the outcome of the Mandela Plate between the two countries.
The Wallabies are favourites to repeat the dose on the South Africans following their six-try rout, but therein lies an opportunity for the Springboks to bounce back and redeem themselves.
White, under fire over South Africa’s run of poor results, is mentally massaging his players and drilling into them that this is a perfect opportunity to address the hurt and anguish of their Brisbane battering.
”The most important area to address with the players is the mental aspect,” White said on Friday.
”We haven’t done well in the first two Tests, that was a poor display we gave in the first one [against Australia] and we just want to rectify that.
”It’s not a case of whether the players are good enough, it’s a case of whether they are going to be ready mentally for it, but it’s always difficult in Australia.”
The Springboks hold a 6-4 advantage over Australia in their last 10 Tests, but have won only one of those matches in Australia, and that was last year in Perth.
South Africa haven’t beaten the Wallabies in Sydney in four internationals since 1993.
”It’s not a case of whether [pride] should be on line, it’s a case of it must be,” White said.
”There’s a proud history [in SA rugby] and we probably felt as hurt about the fact that we lost just as much as our old players once felt.
”We pride ourselves on the standards that have been set, we pride ourselves on the standards we’ve set and when it happens like that, and it got away from us, we have to actually make sure that we dig deep.
”This is another opportunity to play for 80 minutes to play against exactly the same opposition. You can only get judged in 80 minutes again.”
White, who sorely needs a victory to get the winless South Africans back in the hunt for this year’s Tri-Nations with three home matches to come against New Zealand and Australia at altitude, said his players have to be reassured of their abilities.
”You just need to talk to them and reassure them about the things we’ve done and look back at what they’ve achieved over the last two and a half years,” he said.
”It’s not all forgotten, you can’t judge yourself on one 80-minute game of rugby, so we’ve been able to talk about it, look at things that have worked for us and make sure that the things that haven’t work for us that we have addressed them and make sure we’ve tracked them out.”
White said he had been encouraged by the Springboks’ fighting effort in going down 35-17 to New Zealand in Wellington, a week after their day of shame in Brisbane.
”The most important thing I learned from the All Blacks Test was that we came back from 21-7 down to trail 24-17 with about eight minutes left,” he said.
”That just showed me again that they weren’t going to lay down and die and as a coach that’s always an encouraging factor.
”Considering that they had just come off a hammering the week before, a lot of sides down 21-7 would have just thrown the towel in and conceded.
”I praised them for that because I think that’s the makeup of this team that we’ve had the last two and a half years.”
White said he does not have the worry of injured players going into the Sydney Test.
”All the players who were in doubt from the All Blacks’ Test have all been passed fit and there’s a clean bill of health,” White said.
”At least we don’t have that hanging over our head in terms of whether a guy will last 80 minutes.” – Sapa-AFP