There’s a saying in cricket that you can’t judge a pitch until both sides have had a bat. Here’s my equivalent for rugby: You can’t judge the power of a pack until it’s gone toe to toe with the Springboks. The Wallabies might have lost the series against the British & Irish Lions, but some of their big boys left with reputations enhanced. Will Skelton, Rob Valetini, Taniela Tupou, Nick Frost, Tom Hooper, Langi Gleeson; where there were concerns about the Aussies ability to mix it with big boys there’s now confidence in the tall timber. Well, let’s see how hard they really are. Because bullying the Lions is one thing. Standing firm against the double world champions on their own patch is something else entirely. They’ll have to do it without Valetini, for my money the most destructive loose forward in the world (Pieter-Steph du Toit fans, I said ‘destructive’, not ‘best’). But, with six forwards on the bench compared to the Boks’ five in reserve, Joe Schmidt still has enough to cause a seismic upset. Or does he? We’ll find out in a bit when the old frenemies lock horns at the Home of Rugby that is Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Get in touch if you want to share something with the group. Reckon the Wallabies have the requisite meat? Will the Boks razzle-dazzle with a zippy backline? Want to pull me up on anything I’ve said already? My door is open. Kick-off at 4:10 pm local time, 0:10 am AEST. Teams and other bits to come.