The Springboks are on notice – give away penalties to the Wallabies on Saturday at your peril.
Reece Hodge has tested the range of his powerful boot at altitude, and the results should frighten South Africa ahead of the Rugby Championship clash at Pretoria’s Loftus Versfeld (1.05am Sunday AEST).
After holding off for the early part of the week, the 22-year-old Test newcomer finally unleashed at Australia’s training ground in Johannesburg on Thursday and casually nailed a penalty from around 60m out.
“I’m not sure if it’s a small field out there but at least 60m on the angle, so I’ll see what happens when we go to Loftus,” Hodge told reporters.
“There was a bit of wind behind us so we can’t count the whole altitude factor but they are definitely flying far.”
Hodge became a viral internet hit last year when he uploaded a video to Instagram of him slotting a penalty from a ridiculous 70m, albeit with the aid of another handy tailwind.
But there was no such breeze behind him when he crunched an impressive 65m penalty on his Test debut against New Zealand in Wellington last month.
Bernard Foley remains Australia’s first-choice goalkicker but Hodge has been given licence to take aim from distance if the right situation presents itself.
“We want to score tries first and foremost but it’s something we can have in the back of our minds,” Hodge said.
Hodge is yet to play at altitude, having suffered an injury that ruled him out of Melbourne’s Super Rugby match against the Bulls in Johannesburg earlier this year.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yep, to call it 65 is really the point I was making. Says he's hit 70 as well and the Wellington one looked effortless, as you'd expect. But as a tool for winning tests? You'd want to be relying on more than that hopefully, even if some big matches have been won with them.
Jerry
Guest
the actual kick was about 53/53m, yeah. but to be fair, it was pretty close to crossbar height when it crossed the dead ball line and would have gone close to 70m in total. so it's conceivable he could land one from 65m though that extra 10m increases difficulty exponentially.
taylorman
Roar Guru
65 m? He was 3 meters his side of halfway not far from middle. The kick had height and would have hit the ground at about 65m for sure. SA also have Goosen who can put them away from longer: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6wLtxNe0nD0
Country boy
Guest
A win is a win, doesn't matter how it comes. I think Cheika has at least learnt that lesson from the series against England. Final scoreboard is all that counts!