After Saturday’s embarrassing defeat to New Zealand, the Springboks have to bounce back against Australia in Durban on Saturday (23 August). Winning the Tri-Nations for South Africa may be out of the question now but still the team has to go out and show the whole world why they are World Champions. I am getting sick and tired of hearing people saying that the Springboks are not worthy of being World Champions after being beaten by Australia in Australia and Saturdays drubbing at the hands of the All Blacks just solidified those ‘haters’ claim that the Springboks are not the best team in the world.

Looking back to Saturday’s loss to New Zealand, it was clear that South Africa just did not have an answer at the break down where New Zealand dominated from start to finish. Some have questioned the referee’s performance on Saturday saying it was favouring New Zealand, but let us be honest, Springboks simply did not play well and we should not just turn and blame the referee. From the start, South Africa looked out of it. Butch James kicked the opening kick of the game straight into touch and I think that was followed up by five Springbok errors in the first five minutes of the game. I asked myself, “Were the Boks out partying in Camps Bay on Friday night and have come to this test match with a hangover?” Maybe all the hype around Percy Montgomery in the build up to this match distracted the players. Whilst the Boks were busy wearing white wigs, the All Blacks were probably tucked away in their hotel room focussing on the job at hand on the field.

Now come Saturday in Durban, there is no Percy hype in the build up to the game and Percy himself has been dropped from the starting lineup for this weekend. The Boks have to return some pride to the nation and what a better way than beating the Wallabies.

The Springbok team to take on Australia is: Conrad Jantjes, JP Pietersen, Adrian Jacobs, Jean de Villiers, Jongi Nokwe, Butch James, Fourie du Preez, Pierre Spies, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield (capt), Andries Bekker, CJ van der Linde, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtwarira.

Substitutes: Adriaan Strauss, Brian Mujati, Joe van Niekerk, Luke Watson, Enrico Januarie, Francois Steyn, Percy Montgomery.

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