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Sydney - Wet conditions are unlikely to deter South Africa from trying to catch out the inexperienced midfield defence of Pat McCabe on Saturday night.
Crafty Springboks centre Wynand Olivier will oppose McCabe, usually a fullback for the Brumbies, and according to Rugby Heaven correspondent, Jamie Pandaram, said they would not be changing tactics despite the deluge in Sydney this week that threatens to turn the Tri Nations opener into 10-man rugby.
Judging by their training sessions earlier this week, the Springboks will run plenty of angles and decoys at McCabe in only his second Test.
''Against the Wallabies we are always prepared for a physical confrontation, but even if it rains we will go with what we have trained in the last few weeks,'' Olivier told the Herald.
''I didn't actually expect to see [McCabe] there because he is a fullback, I haven't actually seen him at centre except for last weekend. But he did quite well. I'm going to look forward to playing against him on the weekend, I think it's going to be a good challenge for me.
''I'm going to try to see if I can squeeze past him once or twice.
''It is international rugby, they wouldn't put him in that position if he couldn't handle it. He is a good player, I am looking forward to playing against him.''
Olivier is one of many Boks determined to prove their worth for the World Cup squad, after coach Peter de Villiers left more than 20 of his top players in South Africa to rest or recover from injury. ''Everyone wants to go to the World Cup, now you get the opportunity to show what you can do,'' Olivier said.
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
Crafty Springboks centre Wynand Olivier will oppose McCabe, usually a fullback for the Brumbies, and according to Rugby Heaven correspondent, Jamie Pandaram, said they would not be changing tactics despite the deluge in Sydney this week that threatens to turn the Tri Nations opener into 10-man rugby.
Judging by their training sessions earlier this week, the Springboks will run plenty of angles and decoys at McCabe in only his second Test.
''Against the Wallabies we are always prepared for a physical confrontation, but even if it rains we will go with what we have trained in the last few weeks,'' Olivier told the Herald.
''I didn't actually expect to see [McCabe] there because he is a fullback, I haven't actually seen him at centre except for last weekend. But he did quite well. I'm going to look forward to playing against him on the weekend, I think it's going to be a good challenge for me.
''I'm going to try to see if I can squeeze past him once or twice.
''It is international rugby, they wouldn't put him in that position if he couldn't handle it. He is a good player, I am looking forward to playing against him.''
Olivier is one of many Boks determined to prove their worth for the World Cup squad, after coach Peter de Villiers left more than 20 of his top players in South Africa to rest or recover from injury. ''Everyone wants to go to the World Cup, now you get the opportunity to show what you can do,'' Olivier said.
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
