Boks prepare to battle upbeat Australians

South Africa will concentrate on the basics as they try to dispatch a bullish Australia at Newlands on Saturday in the hope of setting up a final-day showdown against New Zealand in the Rugby Championship.

The Springboks’ controversial 29-15 loss to New Zealand during which hooker Bismarck du Plessis received a red card - later expunged - last time out, has left them trailing the All Blacks by four points going into the final two rounds of the competition.

The pressure is on South Africa to repeat their record 38-12 triumph they registered over Australia in Brisbane earlier this month and win with a bonus point, to set up a thrilling finale with the world champions in Johannesburg on October 5.

But South Africa have been at pains this week to say the win is all they are thinking of.

“We don’t want to go for the bonus point; that will take care of itself,” South African coach Heyneke Meyer told reporters.

“We need to focus on the basics and just play the same type of game that we usually play. Australia are more motivated when they come off a big loss but we can’t look past this game because if we do so it could make the last game useless,” he added.