South Africa’s 1995 Rugby World Cup hero Joel Stransky believes Australia will struggle “when they face the big teams” in the Rugby Championship.

There is a bit of a buzz about Australian rugby at the moment. The horrors and disappointments of last year’s Rugby World Cup are now firmly in the past, with the Wallabies ushering in a new era with confidence-building wins.

New Zealand-born head coach Joe Schmidt has enjoyed success in the role with the Wallabies gold medallists winning all three of their Tests this year. Australia beat Wales in Sydney and Melbourne before suffering a bit of a scare against Georgia last month.

Australia’s run of four consecutive wins – dating back to last year’s World Cup group stage victory over Portugal – is the longest such streak by a men’s first-tier team in active play. It’s an impressive feat, but they will need to be at their best if they are to continue it.

The two-time men’s Rugby World Cup champions, the Springboks, will take to the field at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane this Saturday afternoon in front of an estimated 50,000 fans as they aim to win a venue where they have not had success for more than a decade.

Joe Stransky stopped short of saying South Africa would win their opening match of The Rugby Championship outright, but the former Springboks forward predicted Australia would struggle as they rebuild.

“It’s interesting. If you look at it, maybe Argentina less… Australia probably came from the bottom, to be quite fair. Let’s be honest. They were definitely the weaker of the three teams and they struggled and they were weak in the World Cup,” Stransky said. Scotty and Izzy from SENZ.

“It’s much easier for (Schmidt) to grow at 40% than it is for New Zealand or South Africa to grow at 40%. I think the Australians have taken a good first step.

“I’m not sure when it gets really tough against the big teams – we’re not Wales. New Zealand are not Wales. I think they’ll be a bit tougher against New Zealand and especially the Boks.

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“I’m not saying we’re going to win… For some unknown reason we’re not travelling well to Australia at the moment but hopefully that will change. It has to change at some point.”

The Springboks have not beaten the Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane since 2013. That’s quite a long drought for the international rugby heavyweights, and they have won two World Cup titles since then.

But there’s something about this team.

Rassie Erasmus has picked matchday 23 to mean business. South Africa last won the Rugby Championship in 2019 and their last southern hemisphere victory was in the 2009 Tri-Nations before that, but they look keen to reclaim the crown.

The selection of youngster Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu as flyhalf shocked many in the rugby community, but there is no doubt that this is a world-class team. He will captain a team that includes Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Pieter-Steph du Toit and Cheslin Kolbe.

Prop Ox Nche deserves a mention on his own. The set piece battle will be fierce.

South Africa are the reigning men’s Rugby World Cup champions and will be looking to back that up in the Rugby Championship, which kicks off with this intriguing clash as the first step in their journey towards another valuable trophy.

“The confidence is there. Rassie has proven himself to be a brilliant coach… The best part is he has done sensationally well,” Stransky explained.

“What he did so well was the age in the team, the number of games. He nurtured the players, brought in the youngsters, trained them for six months, eight months, 18 months.

“We’ve seen players like Damian Willemse go from being a young player on the bench to being a full-back in the starting 11.

“I think what he (Erasmus) does well, what he does very well, is he understands what game he wants to play, what kind of player he needs, how they need to be integrated into the system, and he has a plan… I think he has a plan five, six years in advance.

“Always with one eye forward, looking at what’s on the horizon, and how do we prepare for that?

“To see a guy like Elrigh Louw come into the system 18 months ago, now he’s starting. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, even as a young guy now, is starting. It’s great, it’s really great.

“A few of these guys have come out and really proven themselves.”