New coaches bring unknowns to Rugby Championship

CAPE TOWN : World champions South Africa take aim at a rare Rugby Championship triumph but face three opponents with new coaches and are experimenting themselves with a more expansive game-plan ahead of Saturday’s start to the competition.

The Springboks have a measly four title victories in the annual southern hemisphere championship since 1996, the last in a shortened campaign in 2019, which remarkably matches their number of World Cup triumphs.

They have Rassie Erasmus back at the helm for a second stint as head coach and start with two tests in Australia, the first in Brisbane on Saturday, before they host old foes New Zealand twice and then play Argentina home and away.

Erasmus admits they need to "adapt or die" and will not claim a third successive global title if they stick to the forward-based, kicking game-plan that has won them the last two.

Hence the arrival of New Zealand attack coach Tony Brown, who has added an extra dimension to their play and will relish working with the explosive and uber-talented 22-year-old Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu at flyhalf in Saturday’s opener.

"It is an exciting opportunity for Sacha. Hopefully, the forwards can give him the platform and he has a smooth game, which will be tough," Erasmus said.

"After a World Cup, you are going to find some guys knocking on the door but we have a guy like Handre (Pollard) with more than 70 caps on the bench, which is a nice security."

Australia enter a first Rugby Championship under their new coach Joe Schmidt. He admits his team may not be fully up to speed in Brisbane as he gets familiar with the players.

"I’d like to have had more time, to be honest. It’s very much been a sprint so far," Schmidt said. "There are six new players that I haven’t spent