Mitchell confident of Wallabies victory
Drew Mitchell believes all the signs are there for Australia to claim victory over South Africa and is hoping their plans will finally come together when the two meet in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The two sides have split their Tri Nations meeting this season with the visitors coming out on top 30-13 when they met in Brisbane, while the Springboks drew level with the 44-31 win in Pretoria last week.
Another win for the world champions, with a bonus point, will guarantee them a finish above the Wallabies in the competition, something they have become used to achieving in recent years.
And Mitchell does not feel mentally overwhelmed, saying: “It is not as if we don’t believe we can beat these guys.
“We have beaten them twice in Brisbane in the last year, we know we can do it.
“Certain parts of last week’s game we definitely showed we are more than capable.
“It is just a case of us needing to be more consistent through the 80 minutes and to beware of giving away points immediately after we have scored ourselves.
“We did that too often last week.”
Robbie Deans’ side came out firing in Pretoria racing away to a 14-0 and then 21-7 lead inside the opening 10 minutes, before eventually succumbing to the hosts.
The Waratahs winger, who along with hooker Stephen Moore will win his 50th cap for his country, continued: “I think the boys have grown their self-belief after last week – that first half was extremely encouraging for us.
“I know it didn’t go well in the second half, and that was disappointing. We only managed three points after half-time even though we had plenty of opportunities, and that is something we are going to have to rectify.”
As for his milestone, he said: “Of the 49 I’ve played so far, each have been important in their own right.
“This weekend, probably off the back of last weekend’s performance, has somewhat more significance in its own right.”
That significance he was talking about is Australia’s failure to win a Test while playing at altitude in South Africa for almost 50 years – their last win came in 1963.
He added: “I guess it’s been talked about a lot, the fact we haven’t won in the Highveld for so long and we were pretty close last weekend.
“We know it has been a long time since an Australian team has won there, and we know it is a losing sequence we must break.
“The boys have this self-belief and a collective belief that we are capable of doing it. We hope to create a bit of history.”
