Roger Federer won several grand slam tennis titles without a coach and now the Wallabies insist they can topple rugby's world champion Springboks in Cape Town sans Robbie Deans.

The Wallabies are likely to have just one full training session this week with Deans following the death of his father, Tony, in New Zealand last Friday.

Deans remains in Christchurch and isn't due to arrive in South Africa until late Wednesday, leaving assistant coaches Jim Williams and Richard Graham and senior players to take care of the team in the meantime.

The Wallabies say it's business as usual and that the boss's absence won't adversely affect preparations for Saturday's Tri Nations showdown with the Springboks at Newlands.

Skipper Stirling Mortlock said the Wallabies were fortunate to have been able to devise tactics and formulate a game plan to beat South Africa after watching the Springboks defeat the All Blacks last Saturday in Bloemfontein.

"The positive is we had an opportunity to have a good look at them last week to develop a mindset as to what we will try to do next weekend," Mortlock told AAP on Saturday after the squad assembled at their Cape Town hotel to watch the Springboks also outclass the All Blacks 31-19 in Durban.

"So we had a bit of an understanding and this week was more about making sure we are really clear and precise in what we're trying to achieve.

"That involves senior players working really hard with the coaching staff, which isn't too dissimilar to other Test-match weeks.

"Not having Robbie for the early part of the week just reinforces that."

Williams played 14 Tests for Australia and featured in the Wallabies' 1999 World Cup-winning squad before joining Munster as forwards coach and helping the Irish club win the European Cup in 2007-08.

Graham, a former Australia A representative and national sevens captain, is in his first year as the Wallabies' skills coach.

Williams is as confident as Mortlock that the Wallabies can overcome the minor coaching disruption.

"We share responsibilities very well in the squad and Robbie not being here in the early part of the week is fine," Williams said.

"The guys are fairly well versed with their routine for the week and we've had that little bit extra time to prepare so we've got through a lot of things we needed to over the last couple of weeks, so it's just a matter of fine-tuning some things.

"And certainly we'll be chatting to Robbie over the next 24 to 48 hours to hear his ideas and go from there.

"We'll be in touch constantly just make sure we've got things down pat and we're all thinking on the same lines."

The Deans-less squad looks to have settled well in South Africa, having been given the weekend off training to recover from the 19-hour journey from Australia.

"Getting over here earlier helps trying to get over that jetlag and the guys seem to be getting used to it already and are in good spirits," Williams said.

"We got out this morning to play a few coordination games. There'll be some shark diving, a bit of golf or maybe the races tomorrow.

"It's just a matter of the boys getting out and keeping themselves occupied and relaxed, making sure they look after themselves and get away from the rugby for a few days before they get into the Test preparation on Monday."

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