Australian coach Robbie Deans will miss the start of the Wallabies' Test match preparations in South Africa to be with his seriously ill father in New Zealand.

Deans returned home to Christchurch on Friday morning and is expected in Cape Town sometime on Sunday, though that could change depending on his personal situation.

The Wallabies left Sydney for South Africa later on Friday morning.

A team official said Deans had also returned to New Zealand to be with his ailing father prior to a Bledisloe Cup match last year.

While the match is vital to the Australians' Tri Nations hopes after the Wallabies lost to the All Blacks 22-16 in the series opener, the team was confident Deans' absence would not be a disruption.

The Wallabies don't have any major sessions planned before Monday, with assistant coach Jim Williams and skills coach Richard Graham supervising the team in Deans' absence.

"We've all been working together, we all know where we are trying to get to and what we need to do to achieve that," winger Drew Mitchell said.

"But at the moment our thoughts are with Robbie and his family and hopefully everything goes right."

Mitchell acknowledged the importance of defeating the Springboks at Newlands.

"It is essential for us. The Tri-Nations is so tightly fought that you need to take any win when you can get it and certainly an away win is very valuable," Mitchell said.

"If we can get a win there, then we are certainly setting ourselves up to have a really good shot at the Tri-Nations."

While much of the pre-match focus has been on the forward battle, Mitchell emphasised South Africa's speedy and skillful backs provided just as big a hurdle as their pack.

"A lot has been said about their forward pack and rightly so, but just as much they've got some really classy backs," Mitchell said.

"Starting with their halfback Fourie du Preez, and then all the way out to (fullback) Francois Steyn at the back and (winger) Bryan Habana.

"They've just got talent everywhere, so we will certainly be up against it."

Graham also emphasised the improving quality of the Springboks backline including the very physical pairing of Jaque Fourie and Jean de Villiers.

"I think their backs have improved their backline play and whether that stems back to (Australian coach) Tim Lane being there (from 2001-03) or just obviously Super rugby helping that process, I don't think you can underestimate their backline," Graham said.

Williams was adamant the Wallabies would carry no residual scars from their 53-8 thrashing by the Springboks in their last encounter in Johannesburg.

"No not really. We haven't looked back and continue to look forward," Williams said.

Former Wallabies backrower Williams said he wasn't sure whether powerhouse flanker Schalk Burger would be rushed straight back into the South African starting side for the August 8 match after serving his suspension or if emerging star Heinrich Brussow would be retained.

"It's going to be a difficult challenge either way," Williams said.

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