Rugby: South Africa coach Peter de Villiers has resisted the temptation to taunt Australia following their embarrassing loss to Samoa, saying the experience will only harden the Wallabies.
After naming three debutants in a below-strength side for Saturday night's Tri Nations opener at ANZ Stadium, De Villiers predicted Robbie Deans' team would react strongly to the Samoan defeat and look to exact revenge at the Springboks' expense.
Deans has made nine changes to the team surprisingly beaten 32-23 at the weekend and is demanding a vastly improved effort against the reigning world champions.
"It's always difficult when you come off a great Super Rugby (season) like this and your team (Queensland) has won it," De Villiers said when asked if any comfort could be taken from Australia's defeat.
"We all went through those kind of lows in our lives and it's a learning curve for all of us. What they took from it will determine how they are going to come into this game. They won't be undercooked against us. We know that."
Captain John Smit also expects a backlash from a Wallabies team still smarting from one of Australian rugby's most humiliating losses.
"There is no chance of catching them unmotivated now," he said. "They will be motivated to turn things around. They haven't had a lot of time to get a particular pattern going.
"They've probably been able to talk about it but to really enforce it will take a game or two or three. We're going to have to expect everything (on Saturday night)."
Props Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger and loose forward Ashley Johnson will all debut for a South African side missing 21 frontline players.
De Villiers is banking on youthful exuberance making up for a lack of experience.
"I hope we can come together very well and very quickly in this game," he said. "They (the new players) have a chance to play themselves into the World Cup squad and hopefully they take their chances."
Matt Giteau is the highest-profile omission from the Australia squad, with the 28-year-old making way for outhalf Quade Cooper and even failing to make the bench.
Scrumhalf Will Genia also returns - in place of Nick Phipps, who drops to the bench - alongside Reds team-mate Cooper after the duo were rested in the wake of their Super 15 success a fortnight ago.
The Wallabies backline is further strengthened with fullback Kurtley Beale and James O'Connor also included.
In the forwards, flanker David Pocock and second-rowers James Horwill and Rob Simmons return to the line-up. They replace Matt Hodgson and Nathan Sharpe, who drop to the bench, while Sitaleki Timani also misses out completely.
Australia: Kurtley Beale; James O'Connor, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Pat McCabe, Digby Ioane; Quade Cooper, Will Genia; Sekope Kepu, Stephen Moore, Ben Alexander; Rob Simmons, James Horwill; Rocky Elsom, David Pocock, Ben McCalman.
Replacements: Saia Fainga'a, Pek Cowan, Nathan Sharpe, Matt Hodgson, Scott Higginbotham, Nick Phipps, Anthony Fainga'a.
South Africa (v Australia):Gio Aplon; Bjorn Basson, Juan de Jongh, Wynand Olivier, Lwazi Mvovo; Morne Steyn, Ruan Pienaar; Dean Greyling, John Smit, Werner Kruger, Flip van der Merwe, Johann Muller, Deon Stegmann, Danie Rossouw, Ashley Johnson.
Replacements:Chiliboy Ralepelle, CJ van der Linde, Alistair Hargreaves, Jean Deysel, Charl McLeod, Adrian Jacobs, Patrick Lambie.
