On recent form South Africa face a daunting task against England at Twickenham, a venue from which no Springbok side have emerged victorious for five years.
If they play as poorly as they did against Scotland last Saturday another wounding defeat is guaranteed but yesterday's team selection suggested they will not go down without a fight.
Four changes have followed the Murrayfield debacle, all designed to introduce a harder edge. More subtle midfield pairings exist in world rugby than Robbie Fleck and Butch James, switched to inside-centre to accommodate Andre Pretorius at fly-half, but none with such a combative streak. The recall of the fiery hooker James Dalton for his 43rd cap falls into the same category.
Rudolf Straeuli, the Springboks' coach, reckons Dalton will bring some "necessary experience" to his youthful front row and admitted he had picked AJ Venter in the second row to provide more "aggression and physical presence" in the tight phases. With the 21-year-old Bulls flanker Pedrie Wannenburg starting for the first time, this is not a team resigned to its fate.
The James-Fleck axis will be particularly interesting, with Straeuli hoping a robust midfield threat will cause England some agitation.
"Both are players who enjoy attacking and love defending . . . I know both are extremely motivated for Saturday's match," said Straeuli, which, roughly translated, means the home side can expect a stringent physical examination.
England, whose No8 Richard Hill missed training yesterday with a slight cold, insisted they never expect anything less from the Springboks. "They've always been probably the most physical side in world rugby," said Martin Johnson, England's captain. "Not for one minute are we thinking this is the easiest game of the autumn series. In a lot of ways it'll be the toughest of the three. They're physical and they're tough and I say that as a compliment."
The last two South African visits to Twickenham have been brutally intense and although the Boks were beaten by a record 29-9 in London a year ago, the England manager Clive Woodward described it as "the most physical game I've ever seen."
Even so, Johnson sees no reason why England cannot complete a unique hat-trick of autumn wins over the big three southern hemisphere powers. He said: "We should be beating them at home at the end of their season. Only one team won away in this year's Tri Nations. It's difficult to win Tests away from home."
Mark Andrews, the former South African lock, is joining the raft of ex-Springboks plying their trade in the English premiership. Andrews, 30, the most capped Springbok in history with 77 Test appearances, joins Newcastle in January and is due to stay until 2004.
South Africa: Greeff; Paulse, Fleck, James, Lombard; Pretorius, Conradie; Roux, Dalton, Carstens, Labuschagne, Venter, Krige (capt), Wannenburg, Van Niekerk. Replacements (from): Van Biljon, Van der Linde, Botha, Wentzel, Uys, Jordaan, Joubert, Jacobs, Russell.
