Boks unleash heavy artillery as they look to defend Rugby Championship

Springbok defence coach Jerry Flannery believes this year’s Rugby Championship will be wide open and the most competitive for years.

Flannery, who played 45 times at hooker for Ireland in the Six Nations, reckons the Rugby Championship is “a phenomenal competition.”

“If you look back at last year, Argentina were the dark horses. They came out of nowhere and shocked New Zealand, and beat us as well,” Flannery said in backing up Rassie Erasmus’s contention that the Boks will have to be at their best if they are to defend their title.

Since 1996, the Boks have never won consecutive Championship titles.

“There are no weak teams in the Championship. That is it!” the 46-year-old said. “Looking at last year objectively, Joe Schmidt had only just taken over the Wallabies after the World Cup, where they had looked rudderless.

“So the Wallabies started slowly, and we benefited from that because we played them early in the tournament (and beat them twice in Australia).

“That is not the case with the Wallabies now, but we want to play the best teams when they are at their best,” Flannery said ahead of Saturday’s Test against the Wallabies at Ellis Park. “With all due respect to Georgia and the Barbarians, we want to be playing the best teams in the world because that is how you get better.”

Flannery said that while he was pleased that the Boks conceded just 40 points in their first four games of the year (they also played Italy twice), the bigger picture is how the team performs in general.

“I’m proud whenever we win, never mind how the defence went,” he said. “All the coaches contribute across all areas. Rassie (Erasmus) will jump in (with the defence), Tony Brown leans in now and again, Felix Jones, Duane Vermeulen and (Mzwandile ) Stick, all have a say.

“That is how we operate. If you operate in isolation where the defence coach only cares about defence, you are putting all your eggs in one basket, and then you start missing tricks because you are not progressing together.”

Flannery said that the four-match warm-up block provided a useful foundation for the Rugby Championship.

“None of us were pleased with how we performed in the first Test against Italy. We conceded a maul try in that game and also against Georgia. That is something teams pick up and go after. So we have invested a lot of time into our maul defence. There is always something to work on.

“Overall, we started well against the Baabaas, were poor against Italy, then good in the second Test against Italy, and a little bit in between against Georgia.

“We have tried in training to replicate the intensity at which Australia have been playing.

“The thing that pleased me the most over the four games was to see how many players got game time. It was great to see how hard they trained and how excited they were to get opportunities.

“For example, you get a young lad like Ethan Hooker competing against Jesse Kriel, and he is fighting, doing his best, and holding his own. Those are the things that make me confident about the team’s future.”

Springbok team to face Australia in Johannesburg: 15 Aphelele Fassi,14 Edwill van der Merwe,13 Jesse Kriel,12 Andre Esterhuizen,11 Kurt-Lee Arendse,10 Manie Libbok,9 Grant Williams, 8 Siya Kolisi (captain),7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Wilco Louw, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Ox Nche

Replacements:16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Canan Moodie, 23 Damian Willemse.