South Africa fear the threat posed by the Australia pack in Sunday's quarter-final here. If it sounds unlikely, given the way Ireland pummelled the Wallaby eight into the Eden Park turf last month, it is not without foundation.

Australia dominated the forward battle when they defeated South Africa in Durban last August on their way to the Tri-Nations title and shoved the Springboks back 10 metres at one scrum.

"Australia are confrontational in their forwards," said the South Africa coach, Peter de Villiers. "They get it right for most of the game there and if you give them a sniff of the ball they will tear you to pieces. It is hard when you analyse them to find a weak spot."

Bismarck du Plessis, the South Africa reserve hooker, said they would not be underestimating the Australia scrum. "We have had problems against them in the past in that area and we are not taking any notice of what happened to them up front against Ireland. We are not Ireland.

"We play them twice a season and meet all their Super 15 sides. We have struggled against them in the scrum and we have to front up as a forward pack because everyone knows the ability they have behind the scrum."

De Villiers said that Australia would be the firm favourites on Sunday, even though the Springboks have shown the greater form in the last month and emerged from the toughest of the four pools with a 100% record.

"What happened against Ireland is in the past," said the Australia prop Ben Alexander. "As a front row we have been working hard on our scrummaging and we are starting to see results. South Africa like to use their scrum as a weapon and they keep producing massive forwards.

"They are physical and confrontational in the tackle and the scrum. They like to get on the front foot and squeeze you. The Ireland game was a slip-up. Great sides do not take a backward step and we unfortunately did that day. We are happy at the way we are going and the best is still to come.

"We have the same referee that we had against Ireland, Bryce Lawrence, and we have no problems with that. He rewards dominant scrums and we know where we went wrong that day. We let Ireland have an early dominance and that must not happen on Sunday."