The Springboks kick off  the 2011 Vodacom Tri-Nations tournament against Australia at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney at 12:05 (SA time) on Saturday (23 July 2011).

There has been much talk of team selection and South Africa sending a "B" team in order to rest players ahead of the Rugby World Cup. Hell,  Graham Henry has done the same with his squad ahead of their clash with Fiji, which kicks off later this morning.
Call them what you like, our 'second stringers' are there to compete, and to win. That's what Springboks do.

After their shock loss to Samoa last weekend, the Aussies have selected their best possible team and will be hell-bent on correcting last week's mistakes.

Two areas concern me, firstly the scrum and secondly our  half-back combo.

The Boks have never started a Tri-Nations test in Sydney with two uncapped props. On Saturday we will, with Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger. But with John Smit, the world's most experienced test hooker, between them we should do ok. When has a Bok front-row never fronted-up and grunted?

Ruan Pienaar and Morne Steyn will be up against Will Genia and Quade Cooper, arguably the best 9 and 10 combination in World rugby at the moment. 

Genia and Cooper, who play for the Queensland Reds (2011 Vodacom Super Rugby Champions),  know each other inside and out and instinctively react to each other on the field. Pienaar and Steyn... not so much.

If Danie Rossouw and Ashley Johnson can put pressure on Genia and Cooper at the rucks and mauls, we should be able to nullify their attacks.

There is a however a ray of sunshine for the Boks in Sydney... the truly kak weather they are having at the moment.

Heavy rain has been falling almost continuously all week. A severe weather warning for the city was issued on Friday with Australian television news reporting that some suburbs had already received their heaviest July rainfall in 50 years. Smit said at his captain’s press conference, “We will have to change the way we play to suit the conditions and we will probably play it tight and rely on our halfbacks to put us in the right places on the field to control the game.”

Tight, yes please. We like it tight.

And the wet weather and heavy pitch will also mean that Morne Steyn’s goal-kicking could be the difference between winning and losing.

And there's more good news for the Boks, Quade Cooper missed training suffering from a bout of gastritis. He is however expected to be fit for the game. A team spokesperson said that Cooper’s stomach bug “was not considered major at this stage,” and that the team doctor was confident that Cooper would be ready for the test.

But wishing for bad weather and Cooper to not play isn't what good sport is all about. I'm behind the Boks, 100%, so much so that I picked them to win on Superbru. Granted, only by 2...

Teams:

Springboks: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Bjorn Basson, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Ashley Johnson, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 John Smit, 1 Dean Greyling

Substitutes: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Jean Deysel, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Patrick Lambie

Wallabies: 15 Kurtley Beale, 14 James O'Connor, 13 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 12 Pat McCabe, 11 Digby Ioane, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Ben McCalman, 7 David Pocock, 6 Rocky Elsom, 5 James Horwill, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Ben Alexander, 2 Stephen Moore, 1 Sekope Kepu

Substitutes: 16 Saia Faingaa, 17 Pek Cowan, 18 Nathan Sharpe, 19 Matt Hodgson, 20 Scott Higginbotham, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Anthony Faingaa