Colourful South African coach Peter de Villiers will be wary of dancing Wallabies when the two sides meet for the final time in this Tri-Nations series in Bloemfontein.
The two sides will play their second match in as many weeks at altitude, with Australia still searching for their first win on the highveld since 1963 after Saturday’s (Sunday morning’s AEST) 44-31 loss at Loftus Versfeld.
Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale, whose scintillating 60m run created a try for James O’Connor, was singled out for praise by coach Robbie Deans, while returning five-eighth Quade Cooper also looked dangerous on his feet as Australia turned on the running rugby.
The nimble footwork didn’t escape de Villiers’ attention either.
“The enthusiasm of the Wallabies is the one area that I think they can take a lot of heart out of,” he said.
“They’ve got very good running lines and a few dancers there, without hearing music they can dance.
“If we allow them that kind of space we’ll be in trouble.
“Looking at them, they’re still a world class team, this win doesn’t make them a bad team now.”
The Australians head into camp near the sea level city of Durban on Sunday before another chance to crack their highveld hoodoo.
Deans said they could take plenty out of the one that got away in Pretoria.
“The way the game unfolded, we’ll review that obviously and there’ll be a lot of meaning in there for us,” he said.
“It will be very important in terms of next week.”
Wallabies halfback Will Genia said the 1,330m altitude at Loftus Versfeld had not been an issue in the loss, and neither would it be in Bloemfontein.
“Everyone was good, altitude wasn’t a problem at all,” he said.
“We didn’t speak about it throughout the week and definitely the way that we played didn’t show it was any problem.”
Australia will assess lock Nathan Sharpe (ankle) and loose forward Scott Higginbotham (back), who was ruled out of a Test debut during the warm-up on Saturday, as the side’s shocking run with injuries continues.
“Obviously continuity hasn’t served us well, we’ve struggle to put the same team on the ground twice,” Deans said.
“We can’t seem to take a trick in that area at the moment but that tide will turn.”
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