The contrast between South Africa and the Lions going into tomorrow’s final international at Ellis Park could not be more marked. The Springboks, series won, cheerfully make ten changes and come up with a side which is arguably stronger than the ones who won the first two games; the Lions make eight, four of them forced by injury and at least two more by sheer exhaustion.

But for such individuals as Riki Flutey, Joe Worsley and Martyn Williams to be starting a Lions international is a momentous occasion. It will be even more momentous for Phil Vickery to be reinstated after the mauling he received from Tendai Mtawarira during the first international in Durban; if ever any player deserved the opportunity to correct the sins and omissions of that game, it is Vickery and it is hard to imagine a prop of his calibre will allow himself to be “Beasted” again.

Jamie Roberts, the young Cardiff Blues centre who has played so well, has not recovered from a damaged wrist in time so the Lions have now lost to injury both centres and both props from last weekend’s last-minute 28-25 defeat. Hence the arrival of Flutey on a stage he viewed as a young boy via the Lions videos owned by Whana, his father, at home in Wellington, New Zealand, and the move from the wing of Tommy Bowe to join him.

The midfield has a makeshift look but it is probably the best of a bad job. Two players, Luke Fitzgerald and Tom Croft, were physically and mentally drained after the game in Pretoria. Ian McGeechan, the head coach, said that Croft in particular had nothing left to give.

Croft retreats to the replacement's bench and Worsley steps up for a game he will savour for the rest of his days, having twice been bypassed completely for a Lions shirt in 2001 and 2005. It has taken Williams just as long to start a Lions international and he will relish the occasion too.

But so often has the ending of a tour been this way for the Lions who will privately admit that their opponents look better balanced in the back row and midfield. Only two of South Africa’s changes are enforced: one is at at flanker where Schalk Burger is back in Cape Town serving his eight-week suspension for gouging and stating categorically: “I am not a rugby thug and will never intentionally engage in eye-gouging or similar illegal actions.”

The second is at lock where Bakkies Botha failed yesterday in his appeal against a two-week suspension for a dangerous charge on Adam Jones during last Saturday’s second international in Pretoria.

“We respect the Lions so much we want to give everybody a run against them,” Peter de Villiers, South Africa's much-criticised coach, said and, though the first reaction is that the Springboks are devaluing the final game, he has a point.

If the Lions have so strong a tradition here, and they do, then these players, ambitious to push their way into every starting line-up when the Tri-Nations Series comes round later this month, will benefit hugely from Saturday’s experience. Nor can there be serious argument that the Bulls midfield players, Morne Steyn and Wynand Olivier, are not in form and that Ryan Kankowski is a serious threat to Pierre Spies in the back row.

“If they miss out on this opportunity then they might not play against [the Lions] again in their life-time,” De Villiers said and it is powerful motivation. “If you look at the side and take it player by player, you would have to ask, where did we weaken the side?” But the coach could not resist a final jibe at his critics in the media: “I have to keep my feet on the ground and be humble,” he said. “But if I change my style, I change Peter and that means I have to go back to God and say, ’you did a bad job.’”

How they line up

South Africa: Z Kirchner (Bulls); O Ndungane (Sharks), J Fourie (Golden Lions), W Olivier (Bulls), J Nokwe (Cheetahs); M Steyn (Bulls), F du Preez (Bulls); T Mtawarira (Sharks), M Ralepelle (Bulls), J Smit (Sharks, captain), J Muller (Sharks), V Matfield (Bulls), H Brüssow (Cheetahs), J Smith (Cheetahs), R Kankowski (Sharks). Replacements: B du Plessis (Sharks), G Steenkamp (Bulls), D Carstens (Sharks), S Sykes (Sharks), P Spies (Bulls), R Pienaar (Sharks), F Steyn (Sharks).

Lions: R Kearney (Leinster); U Monye (Harlequins), T Bowe (Ospreys), R Flutey (London Wasps), S Williams (Ospreys); S Jones (Scarlets), M Phillips (Ospreys); A Sheridan (Sale Sharks), M Rees (Scarlets), P Vickery (London Wasps), S Shaw (London Wasps), P O’Connell (Munster, captain), J Worsley (London Wasps), M Williams (Cardiff Blues), J Heaslip (Leinster). Replacements: R Ford (Edinburgh), J Hayes (Munster), A Jones (Ospreys), D Wallace (Munster), T Croft (Leicester), H Ellis (Leicester), J Hook (Ospreys).

Referee: S Dickinson (Australia)

Television: Live on Sky Sports 1 from 1pm (kick-off 2pm).