The Rassie Erasmus verdict on Joe Schmidt's Wallabies

Springboks boss Rassie Erasmus has given his verdict on the new Wallabies era with Joe Schmidt at the helm. Former Ireland head coach Schmidt is currently three wins from three as Australia head coach following their recent 2-0 series success versus Wales and another home win over Georgia.

Next up for the Australians is their August 10 opening-round Rugby Championship clash with South Africa in Brisbane and Erasmus flew out of Johannesburg on Wednesday with his 33-strong squad by offering an appraisal of Schmidt’s early work as Eddie Jones’ successor.

“They are a well-coached team, and they have a new coach in Joe Schmidt, so they are a proper team,” said Erasmus on sarugby.co.za ahead of a trip that will also feature an August 17 round two rematch in Perth.  

“They also are also very detail focused, and they have a few new players who we haven’t really encountered before, so we have no doubt they will give everything.

“When Joe was the coach of Ireland I worked closely with him during my time at Munster, and he is a man with a great work ethic and who knows how to bring the best out of his players, so we know the magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead.

“We had a few good field and gym sessions on Monday and Tuesday and some of the players come off a well-deserved rest, while the younger players are beaming with excitement about this tour, so we are travelling to Australia with good groundwork already in place, and hopefully that pays off.

 “We will arrive in Australia on Thursday and have training sessions on Friday and Saturday, so we will get straight into the swing of things as soon as possible to acclimatise to the conditions and environment and hit the ground running in the hope of getting off the tour to a good start.”

The Springboks head into the 2024 Rugby Championship following one-off Test wins over Wales and Portugal either side of a drawn one-all series with Ireland. Their record away to Australia in recent times has left much to be desired.

“We are playing against an Australian team that have historically performed well at home, so we want to correct the mistakes we made in the last few games… and we want to win both matches in Australia,” said Erasmus.

“There was pressure on us in 2019, during the British and Irish Lions tour in 2021, and in the Rugby World Cup last year. We know that people expect us to win but as always, we will give our best on the field and hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”