De Jongh expects tough Wallaby battle in Brisbane

Brisbane hasn’t been kind to the Boks in the professional era‚ with only one win in 10 attempts in the Queensland city‚ so it’s no wonder centre Juan de Jongh described Saturday’s task against the Wallabies as difficult.

The teams meet in a Rugby Championship clash at the Suncorp Stadium‚ and with a third of the tournament played‚ it already looks like it could be the decider for the wooden spoon.

The Boks have won one and lost one of their opening two matches – both against Argentina – while the All Blacks smashed the Wallabies in their recent double-header.

New Zealand won the two matches by scores of 42-8 in Sydney and 29-9 in Wellington‚ outscoring the Wallabies by 10 tries to one. The Boks were equally unimpressive against the Pumas‚ winning 30-23 in Nelspruit before losing 26-24 in Salta.

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They scored 17 unanswered points in the final nine minutes of the Nelspruit clash to escape defeat while their two-point losing margin in Salta flattered the Boks. Australia have lost their last six Tests since winning the World Cup semi-final against Argentina.

The combination of Brisbane and the Boks gives them a better than even chance of stopping the rot. De Jongh was not part of the 23-man squad that lost in Salta‚ but did come off the bench in Nelspruit to make his first Test appearance since November 2012 when he started against England. “When you come to Australia to play rugby here it's never an easy match‚ doesn’t matter whether it’s Super Rugby or a Test match‚” said De Jongh.

“We know they are going to be a very difficult opponent on Saturday‚ not only because of what is at stake but because of the way they play the game. “We will all have to work extremely hard and cut out those individual mistakes if we want to get a result on Saturday. I believe we have to turn the tables on them if we want to get the ball rolling again because in this competition you don’t get many chances.”

The Bok centre added he is absolutely delighted to be back in the Springbok fold again after he represented Team SA in Sevens at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. The Springbok team to face the Wallabies on Saturday will be named on Wednesday evening.

- TMG Digital