RUN WALLABY RUN

THE Springboks are backing their “Tonyball” approach to take revenge against Australia in Saturday's 5.10pm Rugby Championship Test match at Cape Town Stadium.

After falling apart in a 38-22 defeat to the Wallabies at Ellis Park last week, pundits and former players have pleaded with head coach Rassie Erasmus to park the new attacking game plan that assistant coach Tony Brown has started implementing since last year and go back to stampkar rugby.

And after selecting a matchday squad with six forwards on the bench, it looks as if Erasmus has asked his manne to park the running game and go back to their “DNA”.

But that is not the case, with Erasmus saying: “No, no, we can’t. We can go back to 2019, and I feel Australia is playing pretty much like we did – defend, defend, kick there, and you guys play... ”

Of what went wrong with Tonyball at Ellis Park and how to fix it, Erasmus added: “We got overexcited and we just felt this is working and now we need to put the foot on the accelerator and started running ourselves off our feet…

“We were chasing our own tail a little bit, and [Australia] were really good, but we can’t go and throw away all of that good work. It’s one loss, it’s not lekker, but Tony has brought back the clarity really well.”

One player who could add some spark off the bench is Kapenaar Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who wysed IOL: “We saw last weekend what happens when we drift away from our system and structure – that’s when we stop being the team we want to be… When you enforce the Bok fundamentals, that’s when the team thrives...”

Meanwhile, like South Africa, Australia too will be without their injured captain Harry Wilson for the Kaapse Test. 

BOKS: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Canan Moodie, 13 Jesse Kriel (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Cheslin Kolbe, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Grant Williams, 8 Jean-Luc du Preez, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Ruan Nortje, 4 RG Snyman, 3 Thomas du Toit, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche Replacements: 16 Marnus van der Merwe, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Eben Etzebeth, 20 Lood de Jager, 21 Kwagga Smith, 22 Cobus Reinach, 23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu

WALLABIES: 15 Tom Wright, 14 Max Jorgensen, 13 Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, 12 Len Ikitau, 11 Corey Toole, 10 James O'Connor, 9 Nic White, 8 Rob Valetini, 7 Fraser McReight, 6 Tom Hooper, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Nick Frost, 3 Taniela Tupou, 2 Billy Pollard, 1 Tom Robertson Replacements: 16 Brandon Paenga-Amosa, 17 Angus Bell, 18 Zane Nonggorr, 19 Jeremy Williams, 20 Nick Champion de Crespigny, 21 Tate McDermott, 22 Tane Edmed, 23 Andrew Kellaway