The last time the Wallabies won on the Highveld was in 1963 when they won two of the four tests to level the series. They lost the first test (14-3) at Loftus Versveld; won the second (9-5) at Newlands and the third one (11-9) at Ellis Park; losing the last one (22-6) at Boet Erasmus in Port Elizabeth.  

This 1963 series was interesting for a number of reasons but most importantly because the Wallaby success in this series was the result of a significant change thier approach towards the game. I wrote about this in some of my previous posts (65 Springboks in Australia) and referred in particular to the influence of a man by name of Norman McKenzie on Australian rugby. 

McKenzie after making a thorough study of New Zealand rugby started to promote the idea of pattern rugby in Australian; that is that Australia should start playing with less freedom and more structure and discipline and precision, on the basis of strong forward play. The main trust was that Australia should reduced the freedom and frilleries in their play and start concentrating upon careful, calculated planning, the reduction of mistakes to the lowest possible number, and the development of team-play to the kind of pattern favoured for many years in New Zealand.  Continue reading →