Peter Bills: Altitude has affected their brains

Australia have taken paranoia over playing at altitude in South Africa to new levels this season.

Last week they prepared for their match in Johannesburg by staying about 1600km away in Cape Town. They got caught up in internal travel chaos because of an airline strike, had to make emergency plans for a charter flight and rushed into a Johannesburg hotel the night before the game.

They played like lemons, got off the field and rushed back to the airport for a 9pm return flight to Cape Town.

Sunday's Tri-Nations opener is even further north from Johannesburg, in Pretoria. So they face an even more difficult journey. Have the lunatics overrun the asylum?

Now, scientific minds will tell you anything you want to hear. Like, that pain in your big toe is down to an ear infection caused by exposure to altitude. But on the evidence of last weekend's performance by the Wallabies at Ellis Park, the theory that you can avoid the consequences of altitude by flying in and out a day before the game, looks about as devalued as the Zimbabwean currency.

Australia were two metres slower than the Springboks. They looked tired, lethargic and off the pace. The disingenuous might snigger and suggest a few less night-time beverages could have prevented such symptoms. But seriously, is it any wonder the Wallabies were woeful with that build-up to the test?

And what is it anyway about suddenly not staying in a city where you are playing? The ludicrous Lions went down that paranoiac path last month, basing themselves for weeks in New Zealand cities that were nowhere near the venue for their matches, and just flying in the day before. It worked a treat for them, didn't it ?

The Wallabies had no reason not to stay in Johannesburg during this short trip. They could have had about 10 days to adapt to altitude before last weekend's test, and then a second week preparing for the Pretoria Tri-Nations game.

Instead, they planned a schedule which involved three unnecessary flights, plus all the hassle of checking in and out of hotels, packing bags, boarding buses and checking in at airports. Who needs all that on the eve of a test?

And just to maintain a modern fad, New Zealand will prepare for their Tri-Nations game against the Boks in Cape Town on Sunday week in, errr, Durban.

So, will the Boks prepare for the Cape Town test in Auckland? Well, they're as likely to experience the type of wet, windy weather they could find in the Cape this time of year, in Auckland. Or how about Manchester? It always rains there.

Has modern rugby gone completely crazy? Decisions like these hurl logic right out of the window.

So the All Blacks spend a week preparing in warm, sunny Durban where the weather this time of year is usually beautiful and the grounds are rock solid. And then they'll fly to the Cape which could be soaking wet, windy and muddy underfoot.

All of which would render their build-up work a joke.

If you stay in the city where you are playing, you experience local conditions. You can also detonate any psychological hang-ups about playing the locals on their own patch, whatever your record there.

England did not win a match against Wales in Cardiff from 1963 to 1991. As that nightmare run deepened, they tried everything in their desperation to win.

They stayed anywhere but Cardiff, a couple of times back on the English side of the Bristol Channel.

Then they rushed into Cardiff the night before the game, drew the curtains of their hotel rooms and never ventured out. Until going to the ground for another flogging.

In the end, one England coach came up with a brilliant idea. They drove into Cardiff three days before the match and stayed at a city centre hotel, familiarised themselves with local conditions, walked around, met people, talked rugby and realised they were only playing 15 human beings. And promptly won the game.

Science and the world of psychology will tell you everything except common sense.

And right now they're doing a roaring trade with rugby teams.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & media in London.