'Boks use technology to prepare for Tri-Nations

CAPE TOWN, South Africa - When the Springboks play the Wallabies in Pretoria on Sunday NZ time they'll have one over their opponents in the rugby technology stakes.

The South Africans have implemented a player monitoring system known as "Pro Zone" at their four major grounds, enabling them to compile a massive range of statistical information on their team and more importantly, the visitors.

The Wallabies clash is the opener in this year's Tri-Nations. The All Blacks play in South Africa the following week.

Up to 36 cameras have been set up at various points of the grounds, allowing video-imaging data to be collected on player movements, from angles run to the amount of metres gained and practically anything a player does in a match.

The Springboks are expected to have had the statistical information monitored from the first test in Johannesburg, giving them a breakdown of what Australian players do before Saturday's test at Loftus.

The technology is popular with English Premier League soccer clubs and is also used at Twickenham, the home of English rugby, but each cost about $840,000 to set up.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones said he'd like to have it, but the limited use of the major grounds in Australia for rugby meant it wasn't a particularly cost-effective exercise.

"We are working at putting a system together in Australia that is portable," he said. We need ours to be portable because we don't have a (fulltime) home ground.

"We are working on that with the AIS (Australian Institute of Sport at the moment ... but we are probably still 12 months away from it."

It may have felt like the South Africans knew what the Australians were going to do at Ellis Park last Saturday -- particularly with two first half intercepts. But Jones said the information from the Pro Zone had to be processed in England first, rendering it pretty useless during the match itself.

- AAP