Delayed flight will not hamper South Africa preparations - Jacques Nienaber

South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber admitted that the delayed flight to Australia won't hamper their Rugby Championship preparations in Adelaide.

The Springboks initially were scheduled to leave to Australia on Thursday but their flight was grounded due to complications with the flight crew. The squad though managed to leave on Friday and touched down in Adelaide a day later.

Nienaber, who is hoping to help his team overcome the winless streak in Australia since 2013 said the players are well equipped to deal with such disruptions.

“The players rested well on the plane, and everyone is excited to be in Australia and looking forward to our two Tests against the Wallabies,” said Nienaber.

“I must commend our operational staff for the swift manner in which they dealt with the cancellation of our original flight and for making things as simple as possible for the team to hop onto the next available flight.

“The professional manner in which the situation was dealt with resulted in minimal disruption to our programme, which is certainly pleasing from a coaching perspective.”

The Springboks started the Rugby Championship campaign with a 26-10 win in Dunedin but suffered a setback in the second round after losing 35-23 and Nienber is confident of his team's chances against the Wallabies.

“The team will have flush-out gym sessions in the next two days to recover from the travel, and we will follow our usual Test week programme from tomorrow.

“This is going to be a massive week for us, and everyone understands the importance of ensuring that they recover as well as possible so that we can train full out on Monday as we look to get our Castle Lager Rugby Championship campaign back on track.

“We haven’t beaten Australia at home since 2013, so we are under no illusions about the challenge that lies ahead. We will have to be at our best to start our tour on a positive note.”