Siya Kolisi ready to bring his own style to Bok No 8 role against Wallabies

The Bok skipper, set to earn his 94th Test cap on Saturday, will make his first Test start at No 8, swapping his trademark No 6 jersey, and he is relishing the opportunity.

"My role will change slightly in the lineouts and the scrums, but other than that I'll be fulfilling my usual role," Kolisi said.

"Playing No 8 at the Sharks certainly helped me, although the role here is different. I'm also not the same type of player as Jasper (Wiese) or a former Bok No 8 Duane (Vermeulen) in terms of my size, so I'm going to give what I can offer.

"The breakdowns are going to be a big area of the game, so myself, Marco (van Staden) and Pieter-Steph (du Toit) have an important job, although that said, the breakdowns are a team effort."

Looking ahead to the match, Kolisi expected the Wallabies to throw everything at them and insisted the team was fully focused on the challenge in front of them.

Australia have yet to beat the Springboks at Ellis Park, but the Boks are careful not to become complacent.

"The talk in our camp has solely been on Australia," he said. "We saw how they played against the British & Irish Lions, and we've been in the position they are now in the past, so it would be foolish to think that they won't throw everything at us.

"We are certainly not thinking about the New Zealand matches now."

Kolisi shrugged off the favourites tag going into the encounter.

"We don't think of such things. For us, it's all about our standards, and after looking back at our last four matches, we've worked hard to ensure that we are at the level we need to be going into this match."

Assistant coach Mzwandile Stick emphasized that the Boks remain wary of the Wallabies’ threat, especially following their recent series against the British & Irish Lions.

"This is going to be a bigger game than what we have faced so far this season," said Stick.

"We are fully aware of the challenge ahead, and we know how dangerous Australia are in the set pieces and with ball in hand. They played well in their last two matches against the British & Irish Lions, losing the second Test in the last few minutes, while they won the last match, so it's going to be a big battle."

Commenting on the late change with Boan Venter replacing Jan-Hendrik Wessels as prop cover on the replacements bench, Stick said: "Jan took a knock at training, and we didn't want to risk him for this match. Boan has been with us for several weeks now, and he is fitting into the structures well. He also has a good relationship with Daan (Human – Springbok assistant coach) in terms of what is expected, so this is a great opportunity for him."