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Evan Roos: It’s time for Boks to lay Brisbane bogey to rest
By Jon Newcombe
It might not quite the same level of stronghold as New Zealand’s Eden Park but whatever it is, whether it is the climate or just the lay of the land, the Suncorp Stadium has been a virtually impregnable fortress for South African teams of the past.
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Some very good Springbok teams have gone to the capital of Queensland and come away beaten, with their only victory there in 11 Tests in the professional era being a 38-12 victory in 2013.
Boks Office host Jean de Villiers was captain that day and scored one of the Springboks’ four tries, with none conceded in return. That result remains an outlier, though, and when the topic of the Brisbane bogey was raised with special guest Evan Roos, the injured back-rower believes the Springboks should confront it head on.
“I think it is like any away team, people who come and play the Boks at Loftus, Ellis Park and stuff, it’s the same effect there. Also, they have won their three previous tests, against Wales and Georgia, so they are on a good run, and Joe Schmidt looks like he is doing a good job in kind of rebuilding Australian rugby. So it is not going to be easy,” Roos said.
“But it is a good opportunity to get the Brisbane monkey off our back. I would motivate the team like that and say, ‘listen, let’s change this around, let’s not let this Brisbane hoodoo still irritate us, let’s put in a proper performance.”
Sitting alongside him on the Boks Office sofa, former Springbok Robbie Fleck believes this Saturday’s Test is a golden opportunity to rewrite history.
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“I’ve been there, it’s winter there now, but it is still hot and humid and it’s never been easy to play there. I have been there with strong Springbok sides but back in the day Australia were champions and very strong. I remember getting pumped there. Most South African teams have struggled. But this Australian side is not quite what they were of old, and they are rebuilding.
“Will they test the Springboks? Maybe in the first 20-30 minutes but I can’t see them really challenging us. Our pack is just too strong, our game plan is solid, Tony Brown has brought in an extra dynamic in terms of the way we want to attack, it is making us lees predictable in the way we go about things.
“This South African side is growing. It was a tough series against Ireland, a world-class side with a world-class coaching unit and we came through. I think we are going to go down there and win both games. There will be a bit of a fight from the Aussies but I think we will come back with both wins.”
Fleck added: “I am very confident in this team and in the management. You know Rassie, he is going to be talking about the fact we haven’t won there for a while. His week will be building up to it so psychologically the players will be on point. and I think we have the game plan now to put the Aussies under pressure because we can get our forwards running onto their backs and our backs running onto their forwards; we are a difficult team to play against now.”
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