The Boks ace says the Battle of Ireland was the best preparation for the Wallabies thanks to the Schmidt link.

South Africa’s two-Test series against Ireland last month could be ideal preparation for their first two Rugby Championship games against Australia over the next two weeks, RG Snyman has claimed.

The World Cup winners beat the Six Nations Championship holders 27-20 in the first Test match in Pretoria, but conceded a late drop goal in the second Test match in Durban to fall behind 25-24.

The two-Test series features the top two teams in the World Rugby Rankings and Snyman said there could not have been better preparation for the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship, which begins on Saturday.

“I think the game against Ireland prepared us a lot because I think a lot of the systems and elements have been put in place under Joe Schmidt,” said Snyman, who plays club rugby in Ireland.

Schmidt coached Ireland from 2013 to 2019, during which time the country won three Six Nations Championships and reached world number one.

Schmidt, 58, took charge of the Wallabies in January and has led them to three wins – two Test wins against Wales last month and one win against Georgia.

“There will obviously be some differences depending on the style of play Australia bring and the composition of their players,” Snyman said.

South Africa’s RG Snyman restarts ahead of Ireland’s Calvin Nash. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

“But I think there are a lot of similarities in many ways.”

Australia play South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday and again in Perth next Saturday, August 17.

“We definitely learned a lot from playing two games against Ireland and hopefully we can carry that into the Championship,” the lock forward added.

However, the South African team no longer plays against Australia and New Zealand in Super Rugby, so the familiarity with their opponents has diminished.

“It’s definitely different preparing for them because we haven’t faced them all season.

“That means a lot of extra work this week, looking at player profiles and seeing who’s going to be playing and studying players that we may have known well before,” Snyman said in a virtual news conference.

South Africa has sent a 33-man squad earlier than usual for the two Test matches in Australia.

“It was beneficial for us to be able to get over the jet track a little bit quicker and give us a week to prepare,” he added.