Eddie Jones out to banish Australia’s Pretoria ghosts against South Africa
Jones has returned to coach Australia for the first time since 2005, having been jettisoned by England in January, and has promised to restore the team to playing the ‘Australian way’.
His interpretation of what that means will be fascinating; many of his predecessors have made the same promise but with varied ideas on what this style entails.
Much of the talk leading into the test at Loftus Versfeld, where Australia are seeking a first win at the seventh attempt, has been of them having to repel an aerial assault by the physical Springboks, who will hit them on land and in the air.
Jones has selected the big boot of Reece Hodge (28) at centre to punish poor Springbok discipline from penalties at altitude and gain territorial advantage.
Quade Cooper (35) returns at fly half after his Achilles problem, while co-captain James Slipper (34) survived an injury scare and takes his place in the front row.
Flanker Tom Hooper (22) will make his debut at the back of the scrum, while there are three more new caps on the bench - prop Zane Nonggorr (22), lock Richie Arnold (33) and fly half Carter Gordon (22).
"It will be better than the Ashes, mate," Jones said with a smile on Thursday when asked how he expected the contest to go. "Let me tell you what we're going to do. We going to roll our sleeves up, and we are going to dig in.
"We've really tried to tackle the ghosts," Jones added. "There's a lot of ghosts of Wallabies teams out there. We've tried to take on the concept of playing at altitude and playing in front of a fierce crowd.
"Pretoria is probably the loudest crowd you experience around the world. We are looking forward to that and see what we can do in it. What a fantastic opportunity."
South Africa have split their squad for this game, having sent an advance party of mostly experienced players to Auckland ahead of their second fixture against New Zealand on July 15th.
It is a tactic that served them well in 2019 when they won the Rugby Championship and went on to claim the World Cup in Japan.
That may sound like a weakening of the team for Saturday, but the Boks have a different view as it gives a number of fringe players the chance to lobby for a place in France in September and October.
It means a first Bok cap for lock Jean Kleyn (29) who played five times for Ireland, but not since 2019, and is now given a run in the darker green jersey of South Africa.
South Africa are without injured captain Siya Kolisi (32) and key fly half Handre Pollard (29), who both sit out the entire Rugby Championship.
