First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

The Springboks haven’t beaten the Wallabies in Australia since 2013. They’ve won four out of 27 Tests against the Wallabies in Australia – for a win record of 15% – since the game went professional in 1996.

Why, then, are the Wallabies routinely underestimated whenever the Boks head Down Under for the away leg of the Rugby Championship? Why hasn’t there been a bigger drive to tick this box, and to do so consistently, over the past 26 years?

Far more is made of the Boks’ away record against the All Blacks. Since the start of the pro era, the Boks have won four out of 25 Tests against the All Blacks in New Zealand – for a win record of 16%. 

An unusual record in Australia

Former Bok players tend to reflect on a single win in New Zealand as they would a World Cup triumph or a British & Irish Lions series success. Victories in the Land of the Long White Cloud are bloody hard to come by. One can understand why South African legends such as John Smit, Jean de Villiers and more recently Handré Pollard list these rare achievements among their career highlights.

All but two teams have failed to win in New Zealand over the past 11 years. The All Blacks enjoyed an eight-year unbeaten run at home before losing to the Lions in the second Test of the 2017 series.

The Boks beat the All Blacks in Wellington a year later to end their own nine-year drought in that part of the world.

Visitors to Australasia have enjoyed better results across the Tasman. Over the past five years, Argentina, England, Ireland and even Scotland have beaten the Wallabies. The Boks, on the other hand, have been perennial losers Down Under.

It’s not like the Wallabies still boast the players or the set-up that was the envy of the rugby world at the turn of the century. They haven’t won a World Cup since 1999, a Lions series since 2001, a Bledisloe Cup since 2002 or a Rugby Championship title since 2015.

Yet when they face the Boks in Australia, they rarely lose. Their own form, as well as that of the opposition, doesn’t seem to matter. The Wallabies find another gear and the Boks slip down a few.

While South Africa will be focused on the two subsequent fixtures against the All Blacks – the first clash in Townsville will mark the 100th match between rugby’s great rivals – they will know that they have a big box to tick when they line up against the Wallabies on 12 and 18 September.

Boks want more consistency

Jacques Nienaber has been clear about his plans for the team since he was appointed head coach in January 2020. Back then, he spoke about squad development and building on the 2019 World Cup success, as well as the importance of securing victories en route to the next global tournament in France.

Nienaber has been true to his word. In 2021, 39 players have received game time across the six Tests matches against Georgia, the Lions and Argentina. The Boks won the Lions series, and then beat the Pumas twice to take an early lead in the Rugby Championship race.

The four-Test tour in Queensland will demand another juggling act as far as the management of the players is concerned. And after the physical and mental trials of the past three months, Nienaber won’t have the luxury of picking the same team in four consecutive Tests.

As was the case in 2019 – when Rassie Erasmus split his squad into “A” and “B” teams in order to cope with travel demands as well as the issue of player welfare – Nienaber may need to rest his first-choice players ahead of the all-important Test against the All Blacks on 25 September. It’s a game the Boks – given the 100-year rivalry between the nations – desperately want to win.

Going by what’s been said in New Zealand over the past few months, the No 2-ranked All Blacks will be just as determined to prove a point.

While the All Blacks beat the Boks on the opening weekend of the 2019 World Cup, they were subsequently eliminated by England in the semifinals. Due to Covid-19 restrictions, they haven’t yet had the opportunity to face the world champions and test their strength. 

Respecting what’s at stake

As history confirms, it would be unwise to underestimate the challenge of the Wallabies. South Africa must appreciate what’s at stake in the short term, namely a Rugby Championship campaign-boosting victory, and in a broader context, namely a first win on Australian soil in eight long years.

The Wallabies’ record in South Africa during the pro era mirrors the Boks’ record in Australia over the same period. The Wallabies have won four matches in the Republic, just as the Boks have won four matches in Australia. Neither side seems to travel well.

It’s little wonder then that the All Blacks – who have won consistently at home and abroad – have claimed 17 of the 25 Tri-Nations/Rugby Championship titles. The Boks have won the Sanzaar tournament four times. They banked a rare win in Australia in two of their successful campaigns – namely 1998 and 2009.

Six Bok players in the current squad will remember what it feels like to win in Australia. Morné Steyn started while Frans Steyn came off the bench in the Boks’ 32-25 win in Perth in 2009. Morné Steyn, Eben Etzebeth, Duane Vermeulen, Willie le Roux and Siya Kolisi were all part of the squad that claimed an emphatic 38-21 bonus-point win in Brisbane in 2013.

At the time, many believed that the big win in Brisbane would serve as a launchpad to an even bigger victory in Auckland the following week.

The Boks were on top of the All Blacks during the early exchanges at Eden Park before Bismarck du Plessis was wrongfully red-carded by referee Romain Poite – as World Rugby and the official himself later admitted. South Africa went on to lose that game, and were forced to play catch-up for the rest of that tournament.

Fast-forward to the present. The Boks are in a very different situation, having won the 2019 World Cup and the 2021 series against the Lions. They’re ranked No 1 in the world.

They can’t be talked up as favourites to win the Rugby Championship, however, as they will have to complete 14 days in quarantine before playing four consecutive Tests in Australia. The latter two games against New Zealand will push them to the physical and mental brink.

Viewed another way, it could be said that the Boks have a chance to claim one, or perhaps even two, wins that could serve as a sign of further progress.

This group has already made history by winning the World Cup and beating the Lions. They will join another elite club – following in the footsteps of the teams of 1998, 2005, 2009 and 2013 – if they claim a drought-ending win against the Wallabies in Australia. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for R25 at Pick n Pay, Exclusive Books and airport bookstores. For your nearest stockist, please click here.