South Africa have have had to make a late change ahead of their clash with Scotland tomorrow, with Fourie du Preez, the scrum half, pulling a muscle in training yesterday afternoon and being forced to withdraw. Such is the versatility of the squad, however, that while Ricky Januarie will take his place in the starting side, the resulting vacancy on the bench will be filled by a back row, Danie Rossouw.

While the loss of their World Cup-winning No9 comes as a blow to the Springboks, they are well served for cover. Januarie was holding down the starting spot at the beginning of the southern hemisphere season, and Ruan Pienaar, who is being given only his second shot at playing fly half, has played most of his rugby at scrum half.

Any inconvenience is countered by the decision to move Rossouw to the bench. The 30-year-old flanker adds to the Springbok lineout options and is the kind of big, ball-carrying back row out of the traditional mould, weighing in at only a little less than 19st. When he comes on, the collisions with Jason White on the Scotland flank should be seismic.

By then, however, the game is likely to have been won or lost by the players up front, where two of the iconic figures in each side are in line for a head-to-head confrontation. Beast Mtawarira is fast becoming the cornerstone of the Springbok front row, and his confrontation with Euan Murray, the Scotland tighthead who is equally the key man in his side's scrum, could be decisive.

After causing the All Blacks no end of trouble last week, Murray reckons he is up to the task. “He [Mtawarira] has a reputation for dismantling tight-heads,” Murray said. “We'll have to see about that. I'm looking forward to that contest. We played them before in warm-up game before the World Cup and they have a very big hit, a direct style no matter what they're doing on the field. They are physical and powerful so we'll have our work cut out.”

These are the kinds of games that props live for, and Murray knows that if he can demolish Mtawarira in the same way that he took Jamie Mackintosh apart, then he can start planning for a summer back in South Africa with the Lions, probably facing the same player.

“We're all improving, gaining experience and getting better,” Murray said. “It could be that in years to come the scrum is one of the best parts of our game, we'll have to wait and see. There are a lot of very good tightheads out there, though, I certainly wouldn't claim to be the best. I'm still learning but coming against very good opposition week-in, week-out is only going to help.”

If he could undermine Mtawarira, it would do more than just cause them a few problems in the scrum. The pack, and in particular the front row, hold a special place in the Springbok mentality and to undermine that would give Scotland a strong psychological edge.

Not just that, but Mtawarira, whose Beast nickname is so much part of his persona that he is listed under it on the teamsheet - his real name is Tendai but hardly anyone cares - has become one of the iconic figures in South African sport. He was only half-joking when he was asked how he books tables at a restaurant. “I call myself Mr Beast. It works,” he replied.

He, too, is confident. “The Scotland scrum definitely did very well against New Zealand, so it is going to be a big challenge to face them. We are really looking forward to it,” he said “We have been working hard on our set-piece to cope with them.

“It is a huge honour to be in the team wearing the No1 jersey. I will play my part as will all the guys in the pack behind me and next to me.”

There is a feeling in the Springbok camp that with Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha playing together in their boiler room for the 44th time, they should have an advantage in the lineout, though Matfield admitted yesterday that they are short of analysis material on how Scotland are playing the experimental rules, making the scrum even more important.