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For some time, the Springboks have believed they are able to sweep the oft-criticised Wallabies' tight five aside, but have been unable to do so, including during their last encounter, the loss in Perth earlier this month.
When asked why, Du Plessis said: ''It's difficult to explain. I don't want to say they are cheaters … and please don't say that. But they scrum differently.
''The All Blacks view the scrum in a similar way to the South Africans - and it is a place where you can exert your domination physically over another side, whereas the Wallabies are far more tactical.
''They know what they want from a scrum in certain areas and that's what they will attack.'' Du Plessis rated Wallabies loose-head prop Benn Robinson and hooker Tatafu Polota-Nau, arguing that they are an effective combination because they are ''both shortish guys, stocky and quite strong''.
When the Wallabies were alerted to the fact the Springboks believed they may be up to no good, the reply from several team officials was: ''He [Du Plessis] can talk.''
Before the Perth Test, Wallabies forwards coach Andrew Blades made the point that they had to effectively nullify Du Plessis if they were to have any chance up front. It revolved around undermining him before he undermined them.
He said Du Plessis was used to attacking front-row opponents with a lot of sideways movement after the scrum was set.
Wallabies back-rower Dave Dennis said there was nothing underhand with how the Australian forwards approached scrummaging.
''The scrum is a big area of the game and a tough issue with referees getting more involved,'' he said.
''The reality is that our front-rowers and Andrew Blades have to adapt. We've got different front-rowers to South Africa and New Zealand, and what suits us may not suit them. It's all within the law. It just revolves around what works for your team.''
South Africa named their team on Wednesday with the big surprise being Johan Goosen's elevation into the No 10 jersey at the expense of Morne Steyn.
Teams:
South Africa:
15 Zane Kirchner, 14
Bryan Habana, 13 Jean de Villiers (captain), 12 Francois Steyn/Jaco
Taute, 11 Francois Hougaard, 10 Johan Goosen, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Duane
Vermeulen, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Eben
Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Beast Mtawarira
Substitutes:
16 Tiaan Liebenberg, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19
Marcell Coetzee, 20 Elton Jantjies, 21 Jaco Taute/Juan de Jongh, 22
Patrick Lambie
Australia:
TBA
