The Springboks return to Kings Park on Saturday looking to maintain their winning momentum against Wales, but the Durban Test will be about far more than the final score.
The Springboks and Wales meet in a round three Nations Championship match in Durban, with kick-off at 5:40 pm, reported The Citizen.
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It is the 45th meeting between the teams.
Here then are four things to keep an eye on at Kings Park.
Bok debutants
There will be four uncapped South Africans in action.
Flyhalf Vusi Moyo is just 21 and has hardly played a game at senior level, having been a star of the Junior Boks. He’ll have plenty of attention on him.
So, too, will it be the case with wing Jaco Williams, also from last year’s Junior Boks side.
Then there are the two well-travelled men who’ll finally make their debuts – prop Carlu Sadie and lock Ruben van Heerden.
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All four men have a great chance to make their coaches put the right ticks behind their names.
Defence
In three matches so far this season, in the non-Test against the Barbarians and Tests against England and Scotland, the Boks have scored a total of 25 tries, which shows their willingness and ability to play attacking rugby.
But they’ve also conceded 11 tries: four against the Barbarians, three against England and four against Scotland.
The Boks will especially be aware of the big holes Scotland found in the backline at Loftus last weekend, and will want to make sure Wales don’t penetrate as easily in this match.
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Players on squad fringes
With this the last match of the Nations Championship Tests this July, coach Rassie Erasmus will finalise a squad afterwards to take on Argentina in a warm-up before turning his attention to the four Tests against New Zealand in the Greatest Rivalry series.
It is thus a last chance for some players, who’ve only played a few times for the Boks, or who’ve been recalled after a long absence, to impress and get into the mix for the All Blacks Tests.
Here we think of Paul de Villiers (two Tests), Cobus Wiese (three), Andre-Hugo Venter (one), Ben-Jason Dixon (nine), and Herschel Jantjies (24, but back after three years out).
Wales performance
Not too many South Africans will be bothered by the standard of play that Wales produce, but it will nevertheless be interesting to see if they have really made progress since the Boks last played against them, in November last year.
On that occasion, the Boks won 73-0.
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Coach Steve Tandy’s team didn’t win a game in this year’s Six Nations, finishing last on the log, and in the Nations Championship so far this month have beaten Fiji, but lost to Argentina.
How will they go in Durban, against a Bok team that is properly firing at the moment?
*This article first appeared on The Citizen
