South Africa hopes to start repairing the damage of a disastrous Tri-Nations championship away leg when they host New Zealand before a sell-out 90 000 crowd at Soccer City tomorrow.
The Springboks defeated bitter rivals the All Blacks twice at home and once on the road last year en route to their third southern hemisphere title in 14 attempts. But the tables have turned dramatically this season with New Zealand winning 32-12 in Auckland and 31-17 in Wellington and these victories, coupled with two against Australia, have taken them clear at the top of the table.
With 19 points from a possible 20, New Zealand need just one more from their match in Soweto and a September 11 Sydney showdown with Australia to win the last nine-fixture championship.
New Zealand stage the quadrennial Rugby World Cup next year and this means the Tri-Nations will be cut to six games while the championship expands the following year to accommodate Argentina.
Although the Boks are pointless after also losing in Brisbane to the Wallabies, there is no shortage of motivation for the green and gold to terminate a 13-match All Blacks winning streak.
It will be the biggest home crowd they have played before, dwarfing the 70,000 at Ellis Park who saw South Africa edge New Zealand in extra time to lift the 1995 Rugby World Cup before then President Nelson Mandela.
It will be the first time the Springboks play at Soccer City, a stadium that resembles a giant African cooking pot from the outside and hosted the World Cup final last month in which Spain pipped Netherlands 1-0 after extra time.
And the latest chapter in one of the greatest rugby union rivalries at national-team level will see captain and hooker John Smit become only the second Bok after retired Percy Montgomery to reach the 100-cap mark.
"We owe our supporters a big one," confessed coach Peter de Villiers, under fire like Smit and the rest of the squad after conceding 93 points on tour and not managing to secure even one bonus point. "Problems have been identified and small adjustments made. We got caught up in two styles of play. When Bulls and Sharks dominated the team they had a similar style. Now Bulls and Stormers dominate and things are not the same.”
We have solved that problem," said De Villiers after making seven personnel changes from Brisbane.
