KEY POINTS:
While South African rugby is in boom mode, the Springboks are facing more pressure than the All Blacks this week to conjure up a Tri-Nations victory in Durban.
Expectations soared during the Super 14 series, before the Bulls eventually defeated the Sharks in the final, and have continued as the Boks beat England twice, Samoa and then the Wallabies, 22-19, in a pulsating start to their Tri-Nations campaign.
This was a ferocious match that was several notches up on what the All Blacks have had to produce in their three-test opening sequence this season against the inferior French and Canadian sides. But it came at a cost to the South Africans.
Three senior players went down with injury including their influential leader and hooker John Smit.
In a trend that has developed this year, the Springboks management have sidestepped any prognosis on the injured even though some believe that Smit will miss the Tri-Nations with his strained hamstring and that prop Gurthro Steenkamp and flanker Juan Smith face similar absences.
The Springbok team will be announced today and talk has been about how the side can maintain their winning momentum, who will be the replacement captain and what coach Jake White will do about his required quota players.
No matter the swelling levels of elation attached to the Springboks' success, there is also a feeling they have to win this Sunday to continue the notion that on any given day they can beat the All Blacks.
Yearly triumphs on home soil against Graham Henry's All Blacks have brought that comfort to Springboks supporters who are also prepared to concede that overseas the side do not carry the same venom. So most of the 54,000 crowd at Absa Stadium on Sunday will attend with convictions about a Springboks victory.
There has been some chat about former skipper and pin-up boy Bob Skinstad being reinstated to the side, and the captaincy. But observers feel that would be disastrous, a snub to the Bulls' loose forward contingent and a decision sure to provoke a player revolt.
White could argue that sort of crisis has been standard fare for him. It seems he will get a little more latitude with his quota requirements and will be able to replace the coloured Steenkamp with Os du Randt.
White has a theory that All Black tighthead Carl Hayman is less comfortable against du Randt and always planned to choose the vastly experienced prop in what will be his final test on South African soil.
White was also seen on video telling his team they showed the will to win the World Cup with their late rally to beat the Wallabies.
"It was unbelievable, but I never doubted you," said White. "You've got the All Blacks next week. Now it gets even harder but we get born to play rugby against New Zealand. That's why we get born in this country."
