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Cape Town - Prepare for a scrummaging battle of the highest order when the Springboks play France in a one-off test at Newlands on Saturday.
From a South African perspective, the question is whether Springbok loosehead prop Gurthro Steenkamp and new Bok scrummaging coach Os du Randt will make a difference in the scrums after a somewhat disappointing performance against Wales.
The Test is effectively the battle for "Best in the World" as South Africa are the undisputed southern hemisphere champions after winning the Tri-Nations title while France won the northern hemisphere's top competition, the Six Nations.
South Africa also have to turn around the unacceptable win-loss ratio. In the last nine matches between the two sides France have won seven times.
Statements from the French camp indicate they are confident of taking the Springboks on where it matters - in the scrums.
It's an area of the game which Springbok captain John Smit admits is a problem for the Boks, and he was this week fairly critical of the his team's performance in the scrums against Wales last weekend.
Enter Steenkamp and Du Randt.
Steenkamp, after a disappointing year-end tour by the Boks, was written off as a has-been.
He has since come back in impressive fashion and was arguably the best prop of the Super 14 season. Brock Harris of the Stormers will vouch for that after being worked over by Steenkamp in the Super 14 final at Orlando Stadium twelve days ago.
Steenkamp's deserved return to the team - and in a starting capacity - is the only change in the Boks front row which didn't quite convince against Wales - albeit the lack of preparation time may have counted against their gelling as a unit and also that the officiating was not of the highest order at scrum time.
The Boks came off second-best (20-13) against France in the Test in Toulouse on the year-end tour - and France are aware that the Boks will target this facet to try and turn around their nasty run of seven losses in the last nine tests against France .
It won't be easy, however. The French have a powerful scrum and the front row of Nicolas Mas, Dimitri Szarzewski and Thomas Domingo will be used to try and dominate the Boks up front. They will be even more effective in the poor conditions predicted.
"We're bracing ourselves for a big challenge," said Smit. "You can see by the team they (France) have selected they want to win this Test match and they have a team that can win on any given Saturday," Smit said this week.
He warned that the Boks will have to front up from the outset and not give the visitors any leeway as they did last weekend when they had to come back form 16-0 down to beat Wales.
** Du Randt this week started his stint as the official Springbok scrum coach. He did so on a very wet field at UCT on Tuesday - and Smit, who played many of his 95 Tests with Du Randt as his prop, was impressed by his former team mate's input - as was Springbok coach Peter de Villiers.
