Head coach Dave Rennie says Australia are ready to engage the Springboks in an aerial battle when the teams clash in Adelaide on Saturday.

The Boks put the squeeze on the All Blacks with a strong kick-chase strategy in the opening Test of the 2022 Rugby Championship in Nelspruit, but Rennie backs his troops to fight fire with fire against the world champions at Adelaide Oval.

“You need to kick smart to apply pressure. If you don’t kick, teams just get a big wall in front of you and they knock you over and you run up your own backside,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“We need a set balance to that … sometimes you have to be prepared to put the ball in behind them. South Africa are so well organised with their kicking game, they’ll choke you.

“At times we’ll need to get into a kicking battle and have a crack on the second or third kick when they’ve got a less organised chase line.”

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The Australians are licking their wounds after their biggest defeat by Argentina as they went down 48-17 in San Juan to see their log-topping position slip away courtesy of the hosts’ superior points difference.

“We haven’t started well enough, that’s an issue for us and we’re looking at what we’re doing there,” Rennie said. “We’re looking at everything we’re doing.

“It’s easy to blame players when you get a really disappointing result, but we’re looking at everything. How we’ve prepared them and ensuring that we’re doing every little thing to make sure we’re ready to go on Saturday.

He added: “We’ve got an outstanding staff and, if you ask the players, they’ll say they’re being well catered for. But you can’t abdicate responsibility when you get a result like that.”

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