“…Smile and grin at the changes all around
NEW: Track your favorites in the app 📱
Now you can follow their favorite teams, tournaments and players in the RugbyPass app!
Take my guitar and play
Just like yesterday
Then I will kneel and pray
We will not fool ourselves again”
So sang Roger Daltry and The Who into the pastbut it could easily have been Rassie Erasmus late last week as he was coming off his mini-break on the east coast of Australia.
The Springboks coach spoke to the local media as South Africans confirmed that they will play Fiji in Gosford on the NSW Central Coast next September, the final game before the Rugby World Cup for both sides two weeks before the tournament begins.
Both teams will be based on the Central Coast next year and the Boks have used the last two weeks to familiarize themselves with their 2027 RWC training base as they rest and recover from their arch-rivalry four-Test series against New Zealand.
But Erasmus, aware of the disturbance Australia broke out in the first round Rugby Championship last year, when they turned an early 22-0 deficit into a 36-22 triumph, he insisted there was no way his side would take the Wallabies lightly in Perth this Sunday.
“There was a bit of arrogance on our part, when we were 22 (after 19 minutes) and thinking, ‘It’s easy, guys,'” Erasmus told Sydney Morning Herald as he recalled that shocking Ellis Park loss.
“I wouldn’t say it was disrespectful, but I would say, stupidly, we thought, ‘OK, now we can just play this bloody loose game against Australia’.
“And they held it, and (Max) Jorgensen and those guys tore us to pieces. They could have even given us more points in that game. They blew us away, and the next game in Cape Town we only beat them by seven points or something like that (30-22).”
As much as he spoke to the Australian media and wanted to say the right things, both about the Wallabies’ current five-match unbeaten run and their memorable win last year, he could easily have been talking to his players too.
As much as Rassie wants to reassure everyone that he won’t be taking Australia lightly this week, he always wanted to use this opportunity to rest his body ahead of November’s Nations Championship
But the effect of coming off such an intense series will be real. ‘Lions the hangover’ after last year’s Australian tour lasted until the New Year for the local people, England wing Tommy Freeman and Ireland prop Tadhg Furlong both conceded as much through this year’s Six Nations.
“Without realizing it, I think I was tired,” Freeman said back in February. “My body felt like I was good to go and I was telling the coaches, ‘Yeah, I’m good, I’m good’. I just think mentally it was a bit more of a struggle.”
Furlong put it plainly and clearly: “Everything may seem insignificant a year later,” he said.
indeed, Leinster have started their URC campaign slowly, facilitating training and playing loads for the 15 or so Lions tourists on their roster during the first half of the season. It turned out okay, reaching another European Champions Cup final and lifting the URC trophy for the second year in a row.
Even before naming a starting side that made 13 changes from the final Test against New Zealand, the Springboks had already excused Pieter-Steph du Toit and Damien de Allende from the Wallabies Test in Perth, sending those key players home for some extra time with their families, both of whom were in the top three in terms of Test minutes played in 2026.
At the top of that list is Jesse Kriel, who has played every minute of every Test this year. As much as Rasie wants to reassure everyone that he won’t be taking Australia lightly this week, he always wanted to use this opportunity to rest his body ahead of November’s Nations Championship – where his side will have a chance to finish top of the Southern Hemisphere standings.
“Anyone who plays four games against New Zealand he’ll end up a little punch drunk,” he told SMH.
“That’s why before the New Zealand series with Nations Championship games, we really rotated a lot. And in the Argentina game we had to gamble a bit, keeping players behind us and we almost lost that match.
for the record, South Africa used 42 players throughout the Nations Championship, and another seven against Argentina. But through the Greatest Rivalry series against New Zealand, only 33 players were used.
Since I’ve been a player, they’ve had big guys like (Owen) Finegan. Now, it’s (Tom) Hooper, they’re huge, but they’ve got these guys with weird builds, huge sizes.
Before naming his team, Erasmus said: “I don’t think we’re going to gamble too much against Australia,” and the Springboks mentor confirmed the Wallabies were always going to be a challenge for the Boks, regardless of their current form or position in the world rankings.
Although the Wallabies’ win rate against the Springboks is 42% overall since 1933, since their readmission to international rugby in 1992 the Boks have actually trailed the Wallabies by two Test wins (32-34, with three draws). Even since South Africa won the 2019 RWC, only a win in Cape Town last year has given the Springboks a 5-4 lead in recent competitions, although that includes wins in their last three meetings in Australia.
“It’s extremely difficult for us to play against them, I don’t know why,” Erasmus said. “I can’t say they’re more physical than other teams. Like, they’re definitely worse because of the physicality.
“But since I’ve been a player, they’ve got big guys like (Owen) Finnegan. Now, it’s (Tom) Hooper, they’re massive but they’ve got these weird-built guys, massive size.”
“They’re tough, tough guys. I remember never getting to practice with Finnegan, how do you deal with that guy? Ever since those days, I’ve just found them intriguing, the Australians.”
Despite only Eben Etzebeth and Ethan Hooker retaining their starting spots from the final Test of the Greatest Rivalry series for Sunday’s clash in Perth, Erasmus will continue to hammer home the message ‘not to take the Australians lightly’. After the highlight of their 3-1 demolition of their fiercest rivals, the last thing the Springboks want is to drop a Test at the seventh-placed Wallabies.
Similarly, Australia can still prepare to face the toughest Springboks team they can imagine, as it will probably still be the toughest they have faced in 2026.
After Ellis Park last year; they know there is no way South Africa will take them lightly for the second time in 12 months. As a result, there is no pressure – or expectation – on the Wallabies in this game.
However, there is a lot of pressure on the Boks. It might not be humiliating, but it would certainly be embarrassing for them to lose to Australia again, and embarrassing for Erasmus, especially after his admission of last year’s defeat at their supposed stronghold of Johannesburg.
For all that, there might be no better time for the Wallabies to meet the Springboks than this week. Imagine that after a beating All black people so comprehensive, South Africa couldn’t beat lowly Australia?
Erasmus knows the threat is real; Australia just needs to be ready for a really big opportunity.