Damian de Allende is relishing the prospect of a direct battle with Wallabies star Joseph Suaalii when the Springboks take on the Wallabies in Cape Town on Saturday.
Back from a niggle that kept him out of the Ellis Park disaster, De Allende reunites with captain Jesse Kriel in the midfield for the 38th time, and says the matchup with the young Australian flyer will be a key focus.
“I think he’s very agile and explosive and he gets up in the air very well, very easily and very high,” De Allende said.
“He does very well to keep the ball alive, especially in contact, and that’s what they do well in Rugby League as well. For us this weekend, it’s just to make sure that we can take his pace away, but take it away together, not individually. He’s been cool to watch – almost reminds me a bit of watching Israel Folau. He just brings that different dynamic to the Australian team.”
De Allende stressed that shutting down Suaalii won’t fall on one player alone.
“There’s always a big responsibility to own a position when we play in it, we know that. But we also know that whoever plays in that position, we give each other enough confidence in the week to own that responsibility to make sure when you go there on Saturday, you are feeling 100% confident and you know what’s coming.”
De Allende says the support the team has received in Cape Town has been encouraging, and is quite the opposite of what he experienced when Ireland defeated the Boks 26-20 at Newlands nine years ago.
“Our supporters are a lot more positive than when we lost to Ireland in Cape Town in 2016, where we had fans swearing at us. Obviously we’re very disappointed in what happened on Saturday, but we’re also disappointed because we know we let the fans down. So it does help us when we’re walking to the gym and the fans are a lot more positive. We know we’re nothing without the fans.”
With De Allende fit again and Kriel leading from the front, the Springboks are ready to challenge Australia’s attacking threat and make amends for the Ellis Park defeat.