Australia coach Joe Schmidt has fired the first shot ahead of Saturday’s Rugby Championship opener against South Africa, saying the Springboks speel op geluk.
Former Ireland coach Schmidt will coach the Wallabies in his first Rugby Championship match after replacing Eddie Jones at the end of last year’s World Cup, when Oz failed to get out of the pool stage.
Up against the world champions and having seen South Africa play to a 1-1 home series stalemate against Ireland recently, Schmidt is quoted by New South Wales’ Illawarra Mercury as telling reporters: “South Africa looked pretty impressive, with the level and intensity of that Irish series.
“There was a bit of controversy with James Lowe’s try being disallowed.
“They tend to get a bit of luck from that perspective.
“[But] they don’t need too much luck to fall their way, though.
“They make a lot of their own luck with the quality of player and the connectedness that they have. [And] they have guys who’ve played lots of Tests together.
“That breeds a confidence, and an almost unspoken trust amongst players, that they know what each other are going to do and they have an expectation of them doing it well.”
South Africa do not have the best of records Down Under, only winning once in their last five visits to Australia.