By WYNNE GRAY
An outbreak of flu, sponsorship ructions, a coach and team under the most intense pressure - all the Springboks need to round out their misery is a visit from Suzie.
A test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg tomorrow might seem to be the best escape for the embattled Boks.
For more than a month, the tension has increased for South Africa as they endured four straight defeats. Each loss has brought greater inspection, further flak and more criticism as the lid on the pressure-cooker atmosphere is about to burst.
Twin chances of redemption remain. But what salvation is likely against the in-form All Blacks, then the Wallaby World Cup champions in successive weeks?
Belief will be the Boks greatest weapon tomorrow, that and the intimidating Ellis Park arena.
Even experienced All Blacks conditioned to test pressure throughout the globe remark on the antagonistic aura of Ellis Park. Watch a game from the massive stands and you feel the forbidding tension.
"It is arguably the most difficult ground in world rugby to play on," former All Black coach Laurie Mains said. "There is a definite psychological boost for the home team."
Watch the Springboks play there and they compete with even more ferocity than normal. They thrive on the physical barrage. Four times the All Blacks have played there since the countries resumed their rugby rivalry in 1992. Wins are shared, and the All Blacks' victories have been by just three points on both occasions.
The message is clear. Visit Ellis Park at your peril.
While the All Blacks have been preparing for this Tri-Nations tilt at sea level in Durban, the Boks have been waiting in the high altitude of Johannesburg. Meanwhile in Perth tonight, the Wallabies will break their trip to the republic to watch television coverage of their Southern Hemisphere rivals slugging it out on the high veldt. What tactics will they see?
The All Blacks will want to use their backs more because the Boks look to be defensively inferior to the backline who held for much of the test at Christchurch. They may also use Andrew Mehrtens' kicking more in the rarified atmosphere.
If they continue to rate their own defence, a game of force back against an erratic back three of Thinus Delport, Breyton Paulse and Chester Williams, may be a very useful variation.
While the Wallabies can wait and watch, one of their countrymen will add to the unknown.
Queensland dentist Andrew Cole will referee this test after the experienced Peter Marshall withdrew with a leg injury. If the Springboks try to unsettle the All Blacks early with some rough stuff, Cole's authority may come under the greatest examination.
But inspection of the All Black pack will not be far behind. The scrum creaked in Christchurch and while there are much fewer of those set-pieces now, any serious lapses will cost.
After the lineout tremors in Sydney and Wellington, the Boks will contest as many All Black throws as they can, and round the fringes they will run with just a bit more venom than usual.
More than ever the acid will be on the All Black forwards. If they hold firm, Christian Cullen, Tana Umaga, Alama Ieremia and Jonah Lomu will benefit. Lomu has not played at Ellis Park since the 1995 World Cup final, nor has he scored in any of his eight tests against the Springboks.
The odds are he will break his drought tomorrow, while the All Blacks should win, to leave the Tri-Nations' title in suspense until the final match.
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