FILE PHOTO: Rugby Australia Director of High Performance Peter Horne, Australian National team Rugby Union coach-in-waiting Les Kiss, Australian National Rugby Union team current coach Joe Schmidt and Rugby Australia Chief Executive Phil Waugh pose at Sydney Football Stadium in Sydney, Australia April 30, 2025 . REUTERS/Nick Mulvenney/File Photo

Backup Springboks present Australia with biggest test of Kiss era

24 Sep 2026, 05:19 · CNA · Join

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SYDNEY, Sept 24 : The Wallabies have gone four matches without a loss since Les Kiss took over from Joe Schmidt in late July but Sunday's clash with world champions South Africa looms as an acid test of the progress made under the new coach.

The momentum Australia have built in two victories over Japan and a win and a draw against a weakened Pumas outfit in Argentina could come to a shuddering halt in 80 minutes at Perth Stadium.

With back-to-back tests against the All Blacks to come in October, and a home World Cup little more than a year away, the Wallabies need to show they can, at the very least, be competitive against a backup Springboks side.

Kiss has continued the work of Schmidt in building depth in key positions but flyhalf continues to be an issue, especially after first-choice Carter Gordon fractured his leg in the second Argentina test.

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Ben Donaldson looks set to start as playmaker for a second match in a row but the most anticipated call Kiss makes when he names his team on Friday will be where he puts Joseph Suaalii.

There has been some criticism of the returns Rugby Australia have got from Suaalii since his big-money capture from rugby league, and local media reports suggest he will be moved from outside centre to the wing for Sunday's match.

While that might help defuse the threat of South Africa's potent kicking game, the Wallabies will need to be at their very best in the forward battle, particularly at the set piece, if they are to replicate last year's stunning 38-22 upset at Ellis Park.

"It doesn't matter who they've picked, they've got probably two or three packs that are very, very class," Wallabies forwards coach Tom Donnelly said on Tuesday.

"It's just a matter of us focusing ourselves. We know what we need to do to front up, and to go out there with an attacking mindset against them."

After a gruelling four-test series against New Zealand, Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus made no fewer than 13 changes on Tuesday when he named a team without the likes of Siya Kolisi, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Damian de Allende and Cheslin Kolbe.

Erasmus has left himself an insurance policy by naming possibly the strongest bench ever deployed in a rugby test with Malcolm Marx, Wilco Louw, Lood de Jager, Jasper Wiese, Morne van ⁠den Berg, Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu and Quan Horn all on the pine.

"Sometimes you have to roll the dice," Erasmus explained to reporters at South Africa's base north of Sydney this week.

"If we keep on (picking the same team), how would we know when we get to the Nations Championship at the end of the year, or at the World Cup next year, what can the next guy do?"

Backup Springboks present Australia with biggest test of Kiss era

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