South Africa expect to complete an early season hat-trick of rugby union Test wins by beating Wales at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria today.
Optimism among the Springboks stems from victories in Bloemfontein and Cape Town this month against Six Nations championship runners-up Ireland, a team considered much stronger than the Welsh.
Making the Bok double all the more creditable was the makeshift nature of the team as injuries to key players, including center De Wet Barry and loose forward Joe van Niekerk, forced new coach Jake White to revise his strategy.
PHOTO: REUTERS
While South Africa were maintaining a 100 percent home record against Ireland, Wales shared a two-Test series in Argentina. A 50-44 loss in the rarefied air of Tucuman was followed by a 35-20 triumph in Buenos Aires.
Altitude hit the Irish hard in Bloemfontein, where they faded dramatically in the second half, and Wales trained at sea level in Cape Town before flying to Pretoria on the Highveld just 24 hours before the one-off Test.
South Africa have made two changes to the team that won 26-17 in Cape Town last Saturday with Brent Russell replacing injured Jaque Fourie on the left wing and Faan Rautenbach taking over from Eddie Andrews at tight-head prop.
A massive Springbok pack failed to subdue the Irish scrum in the second Test with Andrews repeatedly penalized and vastly experienced Rautenbach is expected to solve a binding problem.
Wales have dropped loose head prop Duncan Jones and hooker Huw Bennett from the Buenos Aires starting line-up with Gethin Jenkins and Mefin Daves taking over and Deiniol Jones replaces unavailable Brent Cockbain at lock.
White was his usual media-shy self ahead of the Pretoria Test, although his comment that South Africa should win convincingly triggered a heated response from the Welsh camp.
"The Springboks win two matches and think they are world beaters. White has saved me making a motivational pre-match speech," countered team manager Alan Phillips.
Wales coach Mike Ruddock, facing only his third Test like White, was more concerned about the effect a long season will have on his largely young, inexperienced combination led by seasoned flanker Colin Charvis.
"I do not know how far my players are from empty after a 10-month season including the World Cup, Six Nations and Argentina, but expect them to get stuck into the Boks. We respect them, but only until Saturday [today]," he said.
Former South Africa president Nelson Mandela is expected to attend his first Test since wearing a Springbok jersey at the 1995 World Cup final in Johannesburg, which the host nation won in extra time against New Zealand.
England vs Australia
Clive Woodward believes England can continue their winning streak against Australia despite fielding a weakened team in today's World Cup final rematch.
England have won their last five Tests against the Wallabies since 1999, including last year's World Cup final, but retirements and injuries have conspired against them.
There are just five survivors from the team that started the World Cup final while the Australians have 12 of their best 15 available.
The last time England fielded a second-string team against Australia, six years ago at Lang Park, they were humiliated 76-0 and while Woodward said the odds were stacked in Australia's favor again he believed England could pull off a surprise.
"They won't have a better chance of beating us for a long time," Woodward told a news conference on Friday.
"When we're at our absolute full strength that's when we've got the winning record against them but it's a little bit different this time.
"It's a huge challenge for the team but I think we can win."
England's World Cup victory was built on a magnificent forward display and the unerring boot of flyhalf Jonny Wilkinson but the team has shown signs of fatigue after a marathon season that began 11 months ago.
They finished third in the Six Nations then lost back-to-back tests with New Zealand to surrender their place at the top of the rankings.
Woodward said the players were all looking forward to taking a break after today's match where they will defend the Cook Cup.
"It's been a great season for English rugby but it's not like the last day of school. We've got one big game left and we believe we can win it," he said.
"It's a huge game, we are playing for a cup but this season wasn't about the Cook Cup, it was about the World Cup and that's in our cabinet."
The Australians went straight into a long break after the World Cup final and began their new season with two comfortable wins over Scotland.
Although they were rusty against the Scots, there were some encouraging signs.
While the Wallabies have traditionally relied on the individual brilliance of their backs, they have strengthened their forward play with the inclusion of Fijian-born blindside flanker Radike Samo solving the lineout problems that plagued them last year.
"They're the world champions so it's a game to get easily motivated for," Australia captain George Gregan said.
"But revenge is not a factor, I can't see how you can revenge from losing a World Cup final because if we win this game it doesn't change that."
All Blacks vs Pumas
The All Blacks go into their one-off rugby Test against the Argentinian Pumas today as runaway favorites, viewing the game more as a final opportunity to fine-tune selections before next month's grudge match against Australia.
The Argentina Test holds profound interest up front, but deep down even the Argentinians have little faith in their ability to match the All Blacks and view the match as a rugby "experience."
"We have come all this way to play our best possible rugby against the All Blacks, and who knows what might happen," said center Manuel Contepomi.
"We want to concentrate on the tasks ahead of us, try to improve as a team, and use this opportunity to play the best team in the world as a positive experience."
Despite the official New Zealand talk of "taking each match as it comes," and "you can never underrate the Pumas," Argentina have never beaten New Zealand before and there are glaring signs the All Blacks are treating the encounter as a final trial before the tri-nations series begins.
The key match-up there for the All Blacks, coming off the back of a 2-0 series win over world champions England, is their Australian fixture and a chance to avenge their World Cup semifinal loss.
Among the 10 changes coach Graham Henry has made for the Argentina game from the starting 15 last week against England is the return of prop Greg Somerville, the first choice in the World Cup but not even making the reserve bench against England.
Somerville said he relished the chance to prove he was still capable, and he was looking forward to packing against the famed Argentine "Bajada," or eight-man shove.
"If I want to try and push my case then it has to be against someone who's going to test us in the forwards," he said.
"Everyone in their scrum pushes, they've got no passengers. They love scrummaging and when that's going well they're a pretty happy side."
It is unquestionably up front where the Pumas will ask the most questions, with a starting forward pack that has 244 combined caps to the All Blacks' 104, and 72-test veteran hooker Federico Mendez can only make the reserve bench.
Somerville is the most experienced New Zealand forward in his 35th Test.
Among other All Blacks changes are the inside backs where Byron Kelleher wears the number nine jersey for the first time in two years, record points scorer Andrew Mehrtens returns at flyhalf after being discarded for the World Cup, and outside him Sam Tuitupou starts his first Test.
Kelleher said the new players are determined to push their claims for more Test action under Henry.
Argentina coach Marcelo Loffreda does not even have the luxury of leaving players out of the Test squad, having brought the bare minimum of 22 players to New Zealand.
Several Test contenders are missing for a variety of reasons, including commitments to French clubs, exams and injuries.
"There are no excuses, that is the reality," said Loffreda, whose players have also had to contend with jet lag and a 15-hour time difference.
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