Sport

Dean's late arrival not an issue

THE LATE arrival in Cape Town, South Africa of coach Robbie Deans because of the death of his father had not affected the Wallabies…

Thu Aug 06 2009 - 01:00

THE LATE arrival in Cape Town, South Africa of coach Robbie Deans because of the death of his father had not affected the Wallabies’ preparations for their Tri-Nations clash with the Springboks, assistant coach Jim Williams has said.

Deans, who is set to take charge at Newlands at the weekend, did not travel with the team to South Africa last Friday as he rushed to New Zealand to see his gravely ill father Tony, who died later that day.

“It has been a little hiccup not having Robbie here, but the management and players have pulled together, we have a smooth routine in Test week and not much has changed,” Williams said.

“We’ve had good preparation, there’s been a good vibe and the intensity has been there, which is good to have. It’s been good to bring some physicality to training, a certain level of aggression.”

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As if the slightly disrupted build-up to Saturday’s match was tough enough to overcome, the Wallabies also face a supremely confident Springboks side fresh off consecutive victories over the All Blacks.

New Zealand adopted a risky attacking game plan in Durban last Saturday, including attempting to run the ball back from deep inside their own half and Williams said it played into the Springboks’ hands.

“You do that at your own peril, trying to get width on the ball without forward momentum,” he said.

“It makes it very easy to defend. It’s great to get width on the ball and spread it wide, but it’s not much use if you’re not going forward.

“You have to front up and the set-pieces and breakdowns are particularly important.”

Australia also have a poor record at Cape Town, having lost their last four matches, and six of nine, at Newlands.

Their last victory was in 1992 when they won 26-3 in South Africa’s second game after their return from isolation due to apartheid.

“I’ve gone pretty well at Newlands with the Western Force, but not so much at Test level,” said winger Drew Mitchell.

“The crowd at Newlands is right on top of you, it’s a fantastic atmosphere, but we’ll try and quieten them down by starting well . . . we need to get momentum and hopefully go on.”