Australia won’t fear any retaliation from the Springboks as they head into the second Test of the Rugby Championship in Cape Town on Saturday afternoon.
That was the guarantee from 22-year-old outside centre Joseph Sua’ali’i on Monday morning as the Aussies brace for a full-on onslaught from the world champions after their Ellis Park disaster this past weekend.
The Wallabies opened the tournament with a resounding 38-22 victory and will come into the Test at the DHL Stadium as favourites to claim a back-to-back victory over the Boks for the first time in years. After trailing 22-0 at a stage in Johannesburg, they scored 38 unanswered points to complete a shock comeback win over their hosts.
However, they are acutely aware of the Springboks’ ability to dig deep and put up a performance to get them back into the tournament. Australia had their first training session in Cape Town on Monday as they look to adapt as quickly as possible to what the winter in the Mother City will ask of them for the duel on Saturday.
“We have no fear in my opinion,” Sua’ali’i said.
“The focus will be on us, which is what we can control. We know they will bring their best for 80 minutes, and they will come out firing. We just have to prepare for 90 (minutes). That first 18 minutes (at Ellis Park) was quite frantic, and the power and skill South Africa showed (was good). I am proud of how we handled that situation. From then on, we were very good, I thought.
“I don’t think the Springboks dropped off (the pace of the game), we just showed good fight. The opening minutes were like a whirlwind, but we stuck to what we could.”
The burly midfielder was quite chuffed with scoring his first try in a Wallaby jersey against the world champions. It was a try to remember as he intercepted a floating pass from Bok flyhalf Manie Libbok and outsprinted winger Edwill van der Merwe to dive over the try line.
That try brought the Wallabies within three points with 20 minutes to play, and the Aussies turned on the magic to score three more tries for the emphatic victory.
“It was pretty cool to score my first try for the Wallabies, and it was a special moment.
“It is also always special to do something that hasn’t happened for a while,” he said about beating the Springboks at Ellis Park for the first time in 62 years.
“We have been building since the Lions and that last win over them, and then coming into the first game against the Boks. To win for the first time has been good. We are now just focused on building for this week. The focus is on growing each game, and I believe we are doing that.”
