Rugby-Wallabies expecting Cape Town backlash after Ellis Park euphoria

The Star

9 hours ago

Rugby Union - Rugby Championship - South Africa v Australia - Ellis Park, Johannesburg, South Africa - August 16, 2025 Australia's Taniela Tupou in action with South Africa's Damian Willemse REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
SYDNEY (Reuters) -The Wallabies are bracing for a violent backlash from the Springboks in the second Rugby Championship test in Cape Town on Saturday after their stunning upset of the Springboks at Ellis Park.
Australia's recovery from an early 22-0 deficit to post a first win since 1963 at the crucible of South African rugby on Sunday left many back home just as incredulous as the fans of the back-to-back world champions.
Wallabies lock Will Skelton, however, said the 38-22 victory would mean only one thing when the teams clashed again at Newlands in the second round of the Rugby Championship.
"They're going to try and punch you in the face this week," he told reporters from South Africa.
"So we're going to have to be ready, have a good week of preparation again and really fight until the end."
Wallabies coach Joe Schmidt has been very clear throughout his rebuilding project over the last year that consistency of performance is the acid test of progress.
That Saturday's victory backed up a win in the third test of the lost series against the British & Irish Lions was a huge positive, but the players know a humiliating reverse on Saturday would be an equally significant step backwards.
Skelton said the Lions series, where Australia played well only in parts of the first two tests before producing an 80-minute performance in the third, had established a bedrock of resilience in the squad.
"It's definitely been building throughout the Lions series," Skelton added.
"We didn't have the best start against the Lions in the first test as well.
"At 22-0 (behind on Saturday), we stuck to the game plan. We stuck to the processes. We stuck in there and we fought to come back to where we got the game."
The euphoria of the Ellis Park victory came less than two years after the nadir of the game Down Under, Australia's first ever exit in the pool stage of a World Cup.
While some declared the performance in Johannesburg as the best by a Wallabies team outside a World Cup, former Australia lock Justin Harrison was more circumspect. "Comparisons with previous eras is impossible," he told Reuters at the weekend.
"But this is the best win since the nightmare of the 2023 World Cup, the best result for this group."
Other local media sceptics of the progress being made under Schmidt, including Wallabies great David Campese, were hastily backtracking on Monday.
"I am eating humble pie," the 1991 World Cup winner told the Sydney Morning Herald, having said last week that Schmidt's team selection showed the New Zealander had "no idea about rugby".
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Lincoln Feast.)