Wallabies out to bury ghost of Loftus '97

By BRENDEN NEL

You're not supposed to mention Loftus '97 to the Wallabies. That's when Australia last played in Pretoria, and suffered their biggest test rugby defeat, 61-22, at the hands of the Springboks.

"It's just not a relevant match for us," said Wallaby captain John Eales, who was injured and didn't play in that game.

Eales and his team-mates maintain that the night of August 23 1997 is only a hazy memory.

"It lost its relevance a long time ago. The team is now totally different to that game. You learn your lessons and move on," he said yesterday.

That may be only talk. There are six survivors from Loftus '97 in the current Wallaby team: Joe Roff, George Gregan, Matt Cockbain, Owen Finegan, Michael Foley and Toutai Kefu, who made his test debut that night from the reserves bench.

Their memories, you can bet, will not be vague and, like any test rugby player worth his salt, they will want to reverse the result tomorrow morning (NZT).

But the Wallabies acknowledge that it will not be easy. They speak respectfully of the "wounded Springbok" as if it were a wounded buffalo, and they know history is not on their side.

If that night of '97 does not rankle (according to their PR), their fears of past matches played on South Africa's highveld will have some resonance.

Since their first tour here in 1933, the Wallabies have played eight times at either Ellis Park or Loftus Versfeld and won only once - in 1963 when John Thornett's admirable team beat the Boks 11-9 at Ellis Park. That Wallaby team went on to share the series.

The Wallabies have lost both tests at Loftus, the other time being on the 1963 tour.

But, as the Aussies of today would say, that's history.

Of greater importance to them - and to Bobby Skinstad's Springboks of 2001 - is recent history. The Wallabies have touched the stars, while the Boks, twice already this season, have seen stars.

World champions, Bledisloe Cup champions, Tri-Nations champions, conquerors of the Lions. Never has a team with such a pedigree touched down in South Africa. It should be enough to make Harry Viljoen's highlights stand up on end.

Viljoen will also have in the back of his mind the great irony of that 1997 Springbok victory. Directly afterwards the then Bok coach, Carel du Plessis, lost his head.

There will be calls for Harry's head should the Boks suffer the kind of humiliation handed out to the Aussies on that August '97 night.

So Viljoen and his team will rely on what history has taught them: the thin air of the Highveld favours the home team and goal-kicking wins tests, just as it did for a mediocre All Blacks team against an even-more-so Springbok side a week ago.

But it will take more than the boot of the re-called Braam van Straaten to set up the upset of the season.

The Springboks will need to eliminate the errors which permeated their game last week at Newlands when they made at least 21 handling mistakes, admittedly in the rain and against a New Zealand team playing a type of defensive rugby that came straight out of the trenches.

And the Boks will rely on true and tested South African strategy based on forward domination.

With the backline in confusion, they will need to secure the forward phases and they can do so with Lukas van Biljon set to be the spark again.

This rookie hooker is a player who will run through walls for his team-mates. The Boks will need to do so tomorrow if they are to win, rather than rely on Van Straaten to kick the ball over the those walls.

South Africa: Conrad Jantjes, Breyton Paulse, Robbie Fleck, Braam van Straaten, Dean Hall, Butch James, Joost van der Westhuizen, Bobby Skinstad (captain), Andre Venter, Andre Vos, Mark Andrews, Johan Ackermann, Cobus Visagie, Lukas van Biljon, Robbie Kempson.

Reserves: John Smit, Ollie le Roux, Corne Krige, Joe van Niekerk, Neil de Kock, Deon Kayser and Thinus Delport.

Australia: Matthew Burke, Andrew Walker, Daniel Herbert, Nathan Grey, Joe Roff, Elton Flatley, George Gregan, Toutai Kefu, George Smith, Owen Finegan, John Eales (captain), David Giffin, Rod Moore, Michael Foley, Nick Stiles.

Reserves: Brendan Cannon, Ben Darwin, Matt Cockbain, David Lyons, Chris Whittaker, Manuel Edmonds, Chris Latham.

- INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPERS (SOUTH AFRICA)