WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The hardiness of green shoots cultivated by the Wallabies in their test series against the British and Irish Lions will be tested by the storm they're likely to face Saturday when they take on the World Cup champion Springboks in the Rugby Championship opener.
The Wallabies were more competitive than expected against the Lions, coming within seconds of winning the second test and then winning the third in a 2-1 series loss. Their challenge now is consistency: to keep up that standard in the Rugby Championship. They've finished last in each of the last two years.
The task is a difficult one, beginning at altitude in Johannesburg and at the Springboks’ most formidable home ground, Ellis Park. The venue is 1,753 meters (5,750) feet) above sea level where the air is thinner and breathing is difficult during physical exertion. It's one of the toughest test venues in the world for visiting teams.
The Wallabies haven’t beaten South Africa in their last four tests, their last eight tests in South Africa and in seven tests at Ellis Park dating back to 1963. South Africa has won six of its last seven tests at the stadium against allcomers.
The Australians went into last year’s Rugby Championship after a test series win over Wales and but only won one match in the tournament, finishing last and nine points behind third-place Argentina.
“I definitely think we’re at a better place now than we were 12 months ago,” Wallabies hooker Brandon Paenga-Amosa said. “Off the back of a really good win against the Lions, we just want to continue to build that momentum going in against South Africa, Argentina and then the All Blacks.
“First stop here at Ellis Park, so we’re looking at definitely continuing that momentum.”
South Africa has named a typically formidable squad for Saturday’s match with 18 World Cup winners among the matchday 23, a sample of what New Zealand and Argentina will face later in the Championship.
Captain Siya Kolisi will wear the No. 8 jersey for the first time in a test, combining in the back row with Pieter-Steph du Toit and Marco van Standen. Eben Etzebeth will play his 135th test at lock in combination with Lood de Jager and behind a front row of Ox Nche, Malcolm Marx and Wilco Louw.
Australia, in contrast, has several injuries as a legacy of the Lions series. Flyhalves Noah Lolesio and Tom Lynagh are out of action but Paenga-Amosa still believes the Wallabies can test the Springboks.
“It’s really easy to look at what South Africa has done in the past and obviously they’re a world-class team and for us it’s just taking them for face value,” he said. “We respect what they’ve done, we respect them as a team, winning World Cups. But we’re just going to take them at face value — what we see in front of our faces in Ellis Park is how we’re going to see them.”
New Zealand will start the competition with two tests in Argentina, at Cordoba on Saturday and Buenos Aires a week later. The All Blacks will then return to New Zealand to play South Africa in two tests before finishing with two tests against Australia.
Argentina is coming off a July test series loss to a weakened England team and New Zealand prepared with a 3-0 series win over depleted France.
But Argentina beat the All Blacks in New Zealand for the first time in last year’s Championship and New Zealand will approach the coming tests cautiously.
“I think (New Zealand) is a team that’s really trying to find our identity this year,” All Blacks prop Fletcher Newell said. “I feel like we showed glimpses of it against France. But we want to build on those areas. We want to play fast and we want to be really strong in our set piece and pride ourselves in those areas.”
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Australia players celebrate after Tate McDermott scored his side's third try during the third and final rugby union test between the Lions and the Wallabies in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Australia's Max Jorgensen races in to score a try during the third and final rugby union test between the Lions and the Wallabies in Sydney, Australia, Saturday, Aug. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV lifted a wooden cross and held it aloft from his waist at the start of the 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope has set out to carry the cross to every station.
“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”
Inside the Colosseum, Leo began the procession flanked by two young people holding torches, and followed by clergy.
At the first station, marking the moment Jesus was condemned to death, the meditation prepared especially for Leo's first Good Friday underlined that those with authority will have to answer to God for how they exercise their power.
"The power to judge; the power to start or end a war; the power to instill violence or peace; the power to fuel the desire for revenge, or for reconciliation,'' read the meditation written by Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custodian of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites.
Thousands gathered outside the pagan monument, where the procession continued, following the stations as they were recited over loud speakers.
They included Sister Pelenatita Kieoma Finau from Samoa and a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Society of Mary.
"We have been part of our parish stations of the cross, but this is so exciting. It is very meaningful to have the experience of being with the people of Rome on this special occasion,'' she said.
John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.
For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.
Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.
Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.
The Way of the Cross commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.
“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”
At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.
On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over a late night Easter vigil, during which he will baptize new Catholics, and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.
On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city of Rome and the world.
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Barry reported from Milan.
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Faithful attend the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession led by Pope Leo XIV at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV carries a lightweight, 1.5-meter (5-foot) wooden cross during the Via Crucis, the torchlit Good Friday Stations of the Cross procession at the Colosseum in Rome, Friday, April 3, 2026, which symbolically retraces Jesus Christ's steps to his crucifixion on Calvary in Jerusalem. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
