Perfect Conditions fo Tonight's Tri Nations Test
PERFECT CONDITIONS FOR TONIGHT’S TRI NATIONS TEST
Clear skies and a temperature of 18 degrees will greet players when tonight’s Tri Nations Rugby Test between the Qantas Wallabies and Springboks kicks off in Johannesburg at 11pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time).
Qantas Wallabies team management has confirmed from South Africa that the Australians will take the field as selected for a match that could give them the lead on the Tri Nations ladder ahead of the series finale with the All Blacks in Brisbane on September 13.
The Qantas Wallabies are also chasing a slice of history tonight.
Since the Tri Nations series was introduced when the game went professional in 1996, Australia has won only twice on South African soil – in 2000 and again last week in Durban.
Victory in Johannesburg will give the Qantas Wallabies their first back-to-back triumph of the pro era and revive memories of the only other side in Australian Test history to record successive wins over the Boks in the republic.
John Thornett led the 1963 tourists to victory in the second and third Tests of a four-game series that the South Africans leveled with a win in the final match.
The Qantas Wallabies have several changes for tonight’s game: Timana Tahu starts a Test for the first time at inside centre in the absence of Berrick Barnes, while Phil Waugh will play at openside flanker, Tatafu Polota-Nau at hooker, Hugh McMeniman in the second row for the injured Dan Vickerman and Adam Ashley-Cooper returns at fullback
Qantas Wallabies Homecoming Details
The Qantas Wallabies will return from their two-match Tri-Nations tour of South Africa on Monday 1 September. The team arrives from Johannesburg on Qantas flight QF64, which is scheduled to touch down in Sydney at 1.55pm.
Players will then transfer to various domestic flights to return to their home ports (QF 536 to Brisbane landing at 5.35pm, QF 1483 to Canberra landing at 5.10pm & QF 517 landing in Perth at 8.55pm
Please note that Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell and Richard Brown will not be returning with the squad.
The Qantas Wallabies squad disbands for five days after the South Africa tour. The squad will reassemble in Brisbane on Sunday 7 September for a fan day that afternoon at Ballymore, which will kick start preparations for the Bundaberg Rum Rugby Series Bledisloe Cup and Tri-Nations match against New Zealand at Brisbane on September 13.
