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From Darren Walton in Cape Town, South Africa
August 04, 2009 South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has lit the fuse for an explosive Tri-Nations battle on Saturday, accusing the Australia scrum of milking penalties at the set piece.
The Wallabies scrum, and in particular veteran tighthead Al Baxter, has been maligned for years as weakness and De Villiers says they deliberately use negative tactics in order to gain parity with their international rivals.
"They will go to ground if they want to and will bring that negativity in," De Villiers told local reporters at a coaching clinic outside of Cape Town.
"They know that they are busy losing, but they will try to milk a penalty from the other side. So we will have to see how we match up to them."
De Villiers is expecting the Wallabies to be a more difficult proposition than New Zealand, who the Springboks beat 31-19 in Durban on Saturday, a week after also accounting for the All Blacks 28-19 in Bloemfontein.
"(The Wallabies) definitely give more attention to the lineouts because they play much closer to each other, in channel one and two, before they play across the field," de Villiers said.
"So those little things are important. There is a very big difference to the Wallabies and All Blacks.
"The Wallabies are much more structured. They will keep you busy for much longer as they retain the ball for much longer.
"They play phases to frustrate you much more, they force you to go offside and they have a very good kicker in (Matt) Giteau."
De Villiers was scheduled to name his team to tackle the Wallabies at 8.30pm Tuesday AEST, with the coach facing a selection dilemma after five-eighth Ruan Pienaar declared himself fit to play after recovering from an ankle injury.
It would come as quite a shock to the Wallabies if he opted for Pienaar over the in-form Morne Steyn, whose deadly goal kicking has been the highlight of South Africa's fabulous start to the international season.
In a spectacular entrance to Test rugby, Steyn has missed just two shots at goal and played a succession of starring roles since debuting against the British and Lions in June before seemingly cementing his place in the Boks' starting XV when he scored all 31 points in Saturday's triumph over the All Blacks.
Most pundits believe Steyn is the perfect fit for South Africa's suffocating style of play based on unrelenting pressure which forces the opposition into committing errors and conceding penalties in goal-kicking range.
But if any coach in world rugby is capable of shock tactics it is the eccentric de Villiers, whose odd off-field behaviour has tended to deflect the focus from anything the Springboks achieve on the field.
It remains likely, though, that Pienaar - who was forced from the field at half-time in Bloemfontein - will make his comeback via the bench.
The Wallabies seem to think so, with all the talk out of their camp this week indicating they were focusing on being ultra-disciplined on Saturday in order to avoid suffering the same fate as the All Blacks when Steyn nailed a record eight penalty goals at ABSA Stadium.
AAP
http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-32464,00.html