Rugby Union: Rejuvenated Springboks hungry to regain pride against the English lions

The faces may be familiar, but the mindset is dangerously different. South Africa have kept faith with the vast majority of the players who self-destructed against the Lions last summer, but as Chris Hewett reports, they are likely to be a very different proposition when England's rugby union team face them at Twickenham on Saturday.

Nick Mallett might have presided over a Springbok cull following the South African national team's emasculation by Martin Johnson and his barricade- building Lions six months ago. As befits an Oxford graduate with sufficient grey matter to take a diploma in politics and philosophy and a Blue at bridge, the new national coach opted for evolution rather than revolution and is in the process of being proved correct. Suddenly, the world champions are out of the doldrums and back on rugby's high veldt.

Gary Teichmann's Boks flew into London from Paris yesterday, fully intent on making the second chapter of this particular Tale of Two Cities a grimly Dickensian experience for Clive Woodward and his ambitious young England side. Whatever the outcome, there will be a distinctly ironic flavour to this Saturday's one-off Test at Twickenham; no fewer than 10 of the visitors tasted defeat at the hands of Johnno and company while only two of the seven victorious English Lions, Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill, are current first- choices for their country.

Mallett has, however, shuffled his cards extremely effectively. Percy Montgomery is now a pearl of an attacking full-back rather than a frail and hesitant outside centre; Andre Snyman is knocking opponents over in midfield rather than running up culs-de-sac on the wing; and Henry Honiball is back at outside-half, full of vim and vigour after a much-needed vote of confidence from an understanding and, it seems, inspirational coach.

The result of all this selectorial jiggery-pokery? A 2-0 series victory in France (no mean feat in itself) and a quite astonishing 52-10 masterpiece of a performance to run down the curtain on the Parc des Princes in last weekend's second Test. "I don't think for a moment that we're really 40- odd points better than the French - they caught us on a good day, we caught them on a bad one - but I always believed we possessed the potential to play the way we did," said Mallett.

"What has surprised me is that it's happened so quickly. The aim was, and still is, to get back into a position from which we can defend our World Cup crown, to get some pride back into our rugby after the defeat by the Lions and a poor Tri-Nations and some confidence back into the players. I've tried to do this by consulting the players and finding out how they want to be managed - I'm not the dictatorial sort - and through good selection. I do think there was some poor selection during recent series."

Because of a head injury suffered by Johan Erasmus, the Free State flanker, during the Paris hostilities, Mallett has been forced into one change of personnel for Twickenham. That change will not bring an ounce of encouragement to the English: good as Erasmus may be, his replacement, Andrew Aitken, has already left an indelible mark on the minds of those who encountered him back in the summer.

A 29-year-old all-purpose loose forward with Scottish ancestry, Aitken turned in the finest individual performance of any South African during the Lions tour; indeed, the attacking virtuosity he produced for Western Province at Newlands resulted in some very serious offers from north of the border. Another Oxford Blue - like his coach, he was a Varsity Match No 8 - he can now start relishing the build-up to a richly deserved first start at Test level.

England's selectors, meanwhile, have been attempting to figure out ways and means of avoiding another murderous hiding from New Zealand's midweek team when they send out an English Rugby Partnership XV - effectively, an England A side - at Bristol City's Ashton Gate stadium tonight. Whether they have the mix right is open to debate; if last week's Emerging England found themselves being comprehensively "mullered" by Todd Blackadder's outfit despite the apparent safety net of 70 full caps between them, heaven knows what might happen to this latest line-up.

Captained by Tim Rodber - the Lion of Northampton, who is slowly working his way back to full fitness after weeks of injury frustration - the ERP XV can point to 64 full England appearances among their number. Unfortunately, precisely half of them belong to one man, Rodber himself and another 13 to Mark Regan, the Bristol-born hooker who decamped to neighbouring Bath during the close season.

It will be a big game for both, as it will be for Tim Stimpson, Newcastle's transfer-listed full-back and one possible solution to England's goal- kicking problems. But how much they will be able to show in a side positively chocker with rookies remains to be seen. Spencer Brown, Richard Butland, Martyn Wood, Phil Vickery and, in particular, Patrick Sanderson, the open- side flanker from Sale, are right out of left field and will be playing at a level way beyond anything encountered in their brief careers.

ENGLISH RUGBY PARTNERSHIP v NEW ZEALAND (Ashton Gate, Bristol, tonight 7.45): ERP XV: T Stimpson (Newcastle); J Bentley (Newcastle), N Greenstock (Wasps), M Allen (Northampton), S Brown (Richmond); R Butland (Bath), M Wood (Wasps); K Yates (Bath), M Regan (Bath), P Vickery (Gloucester), D Sims (Gloucester), R Fidler (Gloucester), T Rodber (Northampton, capt), P Sanderson (Sale), C Sheasby (Wasps). Replacements: P Grayson (Northampton), S Benton (Gloucester), R Winters (Bedford), J Worsley (Wasps), V Ubogu (Bath), A Long (Bath).

NEW ZEALAND: T Miller (Waikato); T Umaga (Wellington), J Stanley (Auckland), S McLeod (Waikato), G Osborne (North Harbour); C Spencer (Auckland), J Preston (Wellington); M Allen (Manawatu), A Oliver (Otago), C Barrell (Canterbury), C Riechelmann (Auckland), M Cooksley (Waikato), T Blackadder (Canterbury, capt), M Carter (Auckland), A Hopa (Waikato). Replacements: A Ieremia (Wellington), W Little (North Harbour), M Robinson (North Harbour), S Surridge (Canterbury), G Slater (Taranaki), N Hewitt (Southland).

SOUTH AFRICA (v England, Saturday at Twickenham): P Montgomery; J Small, A Snyman, D Muir, P Rossouw; H Honiball, W Swanepoel; G Teichmann (capt), A Venter, A Aitken, M Andrews, K Otto, A Garvey, J Dalton, O du Randt.

l Bath will have to travel to France if they overcome Pau in the semi- finals of the Heineken European Cup. The final will be staged at Stade Lescure in Bordeaux on Saturday 31 January.