WALLABIES SKIPPER WILL Genia says his team will look to take an attacking mindset into tomorrow’s test against South Africa in Perth.
Australia have lost their first two matches of the Rugby Championship to the All Blacks 22-0 and 27-19.
Genia said the group had reacted to their poor start by lifting their standards.
“We’ve just got to be harder on ourselves as a group and demand more of each other, particularly in game, so we can get those things right,” Genia said.
“Making the same errors over and over again is not good enough, particularly in the last couple of weeks we’ve played. We’ve addressed that in team meetings, but more so in the way we’ve gone about our work in training and preparing for the game.”
The Wallabies will be without hooker Stephen Moore, who injured his hamstring in Thursday’s training run and first-choice openside flanker David Pocock.
Tatafu Polota-Nau will replace Moore, while Michael Hooper takes the number seven jersey.
“You’ve got blokes coming in who can definitely do as good a job as those who are missing,” Genia said. ”You get work rate from those guys and you get impact.
“We’ve got 22 fit blokes who will do the job and that’s all you can ask for.”
Pressure has mounted on coach Robbie Deans with speculation a loss on Saturday night might end his stint as Australian coach.
Unconscious
The Wallabies have beaten the Springboks in their past four encounters, but the South Africans have enjoyed success in Perth where they receive significant crowd support.
Deans said Australia’s favouritism would count for nothing.
“We’re not aware of that, we’re not conscious of that, we’re just concentrating on what we need to,” he said. “The past is genuinely totally irrelevant. It’s an important game for both teams. They’ll desperately want a result, so do we. It’s a Test match, it’s never easy.”
Deans also bristled at suggestions the team would have a point to prove after successive losses.
“Every Test match you have a point to prove. They stand alone in terms of the calendar, this date will never come round again this Test match will never come round again.
“The whistle goes, it’s 80 minutes full on and then it’s done.”
