The Emerging Springboks, who face the Lions in the final midweek match of the tour at Newlands tomorrow, are determined to add to the tourists' woes after last Saturday's first Test defeat.
Dick Muir, the Emerging Springboks' coach who is also on South Africa's management team, said his players, nine of whom have already faced the Lions on the tour, had the chance to send Ian McGeechan's men reeling into Saturday's second Test in Pretoria.
"The team we have chosen represents the best players in South Africa who have not been capped," said Muir. "Some of them feel they should be in the senior squad and they have the chance to prove a point, but they have the opportunity as a team to do a turn for the Springboks and beat the Lions who are hurting after the first Test defeat."
The six emerging players who have yet to appear against the Lions all play for the Bulls, the Super 14 champions. They include the full-back, Zane Kirchner, who is rated by many as the best player in his position in the country but he is not in the senior squad.
"Zane is unlucky not to be in the Springboks' 28, but he is a young guy with a big future ahead of him," said Muir. "He is a player who has stood out for me and he has a great range of skills. It is probably too late for any of the side to make the second Test, but the third next week is a different matter."
Muir said he expected the Lions to come out firing in Pretoria after being subdued in the opening half in Durban, adding that despite their victory, the Springboks were concerned with a number of aspects of their game, not least their midfield defence which was ripped to shreds by Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll.
"We pride ourselves on our defence and it was nowhere near good enough in Durban," said Muir. "We are paying considerable attention to it. O'Driscoll is a class act and Roberts is getting more impressive by the game, but the way we dealt with them was unacceptable and the Lions could have had at least three more tries on top of the three they scored.
"We have to go into the game in Pretoria with the same attitude as last Saturday and take the Lions on. We cannot afford to sit back and let them come at us. They will be paying a lot of attention to the set-pieces, but so will we because you cannot afford to stand still. Their scrum was meant to be a strength and we turned it into a weakness. It shows what a special game rugby is with a lot of cat and mouse and you have to be flexible in ringing the changes when they need to be made.
"There is no way we will let the onus be on them, even though it is a game they have to win. They will have momentum because of the way they finished in Durban. We were 26-7 up and then gambled in making a number of replacements which did not work. That is the way it goes, but the Lions will certainly pose a different challenge this weekend, but we have dusted our cobwebs away and we will be ready."
It has been raining in Cape Town today and more is forecast for tomorrow. "It is a pity because the strength of the Emerging Springboks is best suited to hard grounds," said Muir. "We have players with great handling skills and pace, but we can play it tighter."
Two of the backs, Deon van Rensburg and Bjorn Basson played in the opening match for the Royal XV with the latter needlessly conceding a line-out in his own 25 at the end of normal time that provided the Lions with the position at the end of normal to set up the try that gave them the lead.
The Emerging Boks spent three days with South Africa in Durban last week, providing live opposition in the set-pieces, but they only gathered yesterday. "We have not had much preparation time, but neither did Southern Kings last week and they had a good go at the Lions," said Muir. "We will be better than them."
