Wallabies arrive for Cape Town showdown

August 1, 2009 - 8:54AM


The Wallabies have arrived in South Africa ahead of next Saturday's Tri Nations showdown with the Springboks in Cape Town.

But the team will spend most of the week preparing for the vital Test without coach Robbie Deans, whose father has passed away in New Zealand.
As the Wallabies left Sydney on Friday morning, Deans instead rushed from home to Christchurch after learning his father was gravely ill.

He is not expected to arrive in Cape Town until Wednesday night, leaving assistant coaches Jim Williams and Richard Graham to take charge of the Wallabies' training sessions in the meantime.
The Wallabies will have a training-free day on Saturday as they recover from the draining 19-hour journey from Australia.

The squad will gather at the team hotel to watch the Springboks-All Blacks clash on Saturday afternoon before hitting the training paddock on Sunday.

The team is confident Deans' absence will not adversely affect their build-up as they look to bounce back from a 22-16 loss to the All Blacks in their opening Tri Nations match in Auckland two weeks ago.

"We've all been working together. We all know where we are trying to get to and what we need to do to achieve that," winger Drew Mitchell said.

Hooker Stephen Moore said most of the tactical work had been completed during a three-day camp in Sydney prior to leaving for South Africa.

"And the game plan against the Boks is pretty simple: we need to match them in the physical department," Moore said.

While the Wallabies broke an eight-year Test-match losing streak in South Africa last year with a 27-15 victory in Durban, they crashed back to earth the following week with a demoralising 53-8 defeat in Johannesburg.

The Wallabies last won at Newlands in 1992.

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