Wallabies feel battle-hardened by British and Irish Lions series ahead of Springboks

Australia hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa feels that facing the British & Irish Lions in a gruelling home series had helped prepare them for Saturday’s opening Rugby Championship match against the Springboks at Ellis Park. 

Australia are coming off a confidence-boosting 22-12 victory in the final Test of a hard-fought series against the Lions that was preceded by a heartbreaking 29-26 defeat. The home team had lost the opener 27-19.

“We’ve built quite nicely over the Lions series and we’re looking at continuing that momentum into this game, which is really important for us,” Paenga-Amosa said in an online media briefing ahead of the clash against the world champions. 

“It’s just building character and showing who we are, and continuing that momentum and going to another level in the TRC. We just want to build off the back of that last Lions game, essentially.”

While being wary of placing the Boks on a pedestal, Paenga-Amosa feels their achievements command respect.

“Obviously we respect what they have done, we respect them as a team and them having gone on to win World Cups. But for us we’re just going to take it at face value at Elis Park,” he said.

“For us the most important thing is knowing our individual roles to play our part in the team and get the result that we need.”

It has been a whirlwind past month for the Western Force hooker who was drafted into the Wallabies squad for the final Test as a late injury replacement. He is excited by the opportunity to pack down against one of the most formidable scrums in world rugby.

The visitors will also have to cope with Bok mentor Rassie Eramus’ bag of tricks that has included ‘double line-outs’ in open play to create a stable platform for the maul. 

“You’ve just to expect everything. You’ve can never know what’s in Rassie’s back pocket. If we just stick to our own process and do what we do best that will go a long for us,”  Paenga-Amosa said.

Kick-off on Saturday is at 5.10pm.