Are Boks battle-hardened enough to defend Rugby Champs?

So how battle hardened are the Springboks ahead of Saturday’s Castle Lager Rugby Championship match against Australia?

That’s the million dollar question.

Some pundits have suggested the Wallabies have an edge after coming through a tough test series against the British and Irish Lions while the Boks are a bit underdone, not having played for four weeks and before that having weaker opposition in the likes of Italy and Georgia in their July test series.

So is there a chance the Boks may be underdone? Not so, according to coach Rassie Erasmus, who believes his side will be ready to hit the ground running on Saturday when they face the Wallabies at Ellis Park.

The Boks cancelled their planned 10 day rest period for their squad and have been in training for three full weeks preparing for the Wallabies and after that, the bigger test against the All Blacks in Auckland that follows.

Erasmus though, doesn’t see it as an issue, and believes the way the Boks have prepared will put them in good stead for the battle that awaits.

“There are two ways to look at the debate over battle-readiness,” Erasmus said.

“They have six or seven injuries after having to field the same team over and over. But we lost only one player in Jasper Wiese, when he lost his temper a bit. Otherwise, we have lost nobody here, which bodes well for the Rugby Championship.

“Yes, games are games because you get the pressure and the nerves, and we might be lacking a bit there because none of our games were close. Tactically, we were not challenged by Italy and Georgia, but those were very physical matches.

“Are the Wallabies punch drunk or battle ready? You can never be sure. You can only hope you did the right thing. There are two realities.

“What they believe in their team, what we believe in our team, and then there is the truth. We will find out the truth on Saturday.”

Erasmus also praised Joe Schmidt - his opposition coach - as an excellent coach, and showed the respect is there for a coach he worked for when he was at Munster.

“I’m not one to suck up other coaches because it doesn’t help your team perform better on match day, but Joe is a great coach,” Erasmus said about Schmidt, who was Ireland coach when Erasmus coached Munster. Schmidt has engineered Australia’s resurgence from the doldrums to the side that beat the British and Irish Lions in the third test.

“I worked with Joe in Ireland, as did (assistant Bok coaches) Felix Jones and Jerry Flannery,” Erasmus said.

“When you sign with an Irish club, you don’t sign with Ulster, Munster or Leinster, you sign with the Irish Rugby Union, so we reported to Joe Schmidt. That is what I did for two years. We sat in many meetings together. He is a very particular guy, very detail-driven. He certainly knows what he wants.

“Players are on edge to satisfy his demands. That is what we will get from the Wallabies this weekend. I know he is stepping down and Les Kiss is with him here. But he is a very competitive guy and I can’t see them not being on a high after the way they finished that Lions series.

“He will want to finish on a high and the players have a lot of respect for what he has brought to the Aussie jersey. Everybody is talking about the fight for the jersey is back. That is what Joe does.

“You can’t forget what that guy did for Ireland with only 160 professional players. I had first-hand experience of that. So we have respect for him, and also for the squad he is building.”

The Australians are set to name their team on Thursday.