If Peter de Villiers opts for his preferred side for the first Test, the world champions are heading to the second Test 1-0 down. Unless the Lions are awful, a combination of factors should prove too much, even for the mighty Springboks.

There is nervous talk of rustiness in the African air as we build to Saturday’s first Test. Most Springboks will not have played a seriously competitive game for five weeks when they stride onto Kings Park to face a Lions team that has been building towards this match for five weeks. Given these circumstances, a degree of rust is inevitable but such is the strength of their squad they could handle a rusty first half and the Lions.

That trumpeted concern is only the ripple, however. There are far deeper dangers awaiting the Boks if the head coach picks the side we believe he is leaning towards. There are players with global reputations in line for selection who have endured an entire Super 14 break from either form or fitness and, in many cases, both.

International selection is always more complex than current form, but if a third of the team are short of that commodity plus match hardness it places burdens on the other players. Brilliant as the form of the Bulls was in the Super 14 that positive could be eclipsed by the large contingent of struggling Boks.

Prime amongst South African concerns is Ruan Pienaar, a superb talent who seemed to be settling into the role of a Test fly-half when South Africa battered England. But since then injuries have truncated his emergence. He has been a rare starter for the Sharks and when he has started he has been a shadow of the man who bestrode Twickenham last autumn.

Morne Steyn, the Bulls fly-half, is playing the rugby of his life outside Springbok Fourie du Preez. He controls a game and kicks his goals yet most think Pienaar will begin at No 10. A failure to kick goals cost the Boks the series in 1997, and it could do so again.

Another area of weakness is full-back. De Villiers has not picked a specialist No 15 in his 28-man squad. The favourite for the shirt is Frans Steyn, a brilliant talent who has yet to find a position and another to have missed much of the season with injury.

Flawed at full-back and a team without a controlling 10 to kick goals is pretty good for starters — and it gets better for the Lions. Wynand Olivier, the Bulls inside-centre, has matured into an outstanding performer, but Jean de Villiers is regarded as a shoo-in for the starting line-up. On top form this is understandable, but he has not played since April and when he did was nowhere near his best.

The situation at outside-centre is somewhat different. Adrian Jacobs is a fine 13 but Jaque Fourie has been in a different class for the Golden Lions. On form there is no comparison but South African rugby comes with racial/political complexities which few like to discuss but which undoubtedly affect on-field matters.

So South Africa might well have a back-line with four out-of-form operators. This is a great ratio from the Lions perspective.

Alas, up front, the pack broadly picks itself. Few would argue with the tight five, based around the Sharks and the Bulls, but the inclusion of Schalk Burger, before sustaining an ankle injury which is likely to rule him out of the first Test, was symptomatic of the excessive trust in form-free heroes.

If rumours are right and Danie Rossouw is chosen ahead of Heinrich Brussow should Burger not recover, the Lions will be both astonished and relieved. They have already been torn to pieces at the breakdown by Brussow.