Courtesy of Quade Cooper's boot, Australia has its first win inThe Rugby Championship with a 28-26 win over South Africa on the weekend.
In the last nine Tests against each other, South Africa and the Wallabies have only been separated by an average of six points per game, with the Wallabies picking up four wins and two draws.
Can the Wallabies find another gear to hold off the World Champions? South Africa will be looking to avoid back-to-back defeats in men’s Tests for the first time since November 2018.
TALKING POINTS
- Australia have made 11 offloads per game in The Rugby Championship in 2021, the most of any team; in fact, six of the seven players to have made three or more offloads so far this campaign are Australians.
- South Africa have conceded just 13 points in the final quarters of games thus far in the 2021 edition of The Rugby Championship, fewer than any other team in the competition; however, Australia have scored more points in this quarter (27) than they have in any other.
- Lood De Jager (South Africa) has won a competition-high 22 lineouts in The Rugby Championship in 2021, including three lineout steals; no other player has won more than 13 lineouts this campaign.
- Samu Kerevi (Australia) has made the most carries (40) and the most offloads (5) of any player in The Rugby Championship thus far in 2021 despite having played only two of the three possible Tests.
- Malcolm Marx (South Africa) has scored three tries from just 88 minutes of game time across his last two Test appearances; he has scored more Test tries against Australia (3) than he has against any other nation.
Michael Cheika breaks down what to expect from the second meeting with the Springboks in the video below.
