KEY POINTS:
The Wallabies are crying commercial tears about the Springboks using a C side for the offshore Tri-Nations tests.
You can understand the lament as they try to fill the remaining seats for next weekend's test in Sydney. Rugby is in a rugged sporting battle in Australia, competing for
the business and entertainment dollar against AFL, NRL, NSL and others.
And apart from minor experiments against Wales and Fiji, the Wallabies have put their best out on the international track this winter. They have to because they do not have the New Zealand talent pool.
Of the Sanzar partners this season, the Aussies have complied most with their Super 14 and Tri-Nations obligations. But they might be looking embarrassed after their outbursts if the also-ran Boks beat them next week.
That would be a calamity.
When New Zealand added their rebukes about the Boks it was a bit rich. They defended the timing of their All Blacks withdrawal from the Super 14 but it set the tone for a muddled year, a tatty series and the 2007 international calendar mess.
If New Zealand thought their timing was right so be it, but they shouldn't dictate to South Africa when they should rest and recondition their men. Several months ago, word oozing out of the republic was that coach Jake White would throw his full fury against the Wallabies in Cape Town and All Blacks in Durban, looking for psychological victories before sending an alternate squad offshore.
SARU claimed they knew nothing of White's intentions and that may be true; why would White tell them anything after the shameful way they interfered with his original squad. White knows the bulk of his World Cup side but this mini-tour will allow him to sift those in competition for the last 10 places.
We will never know whether White would have been tempted to bring more of his marquee players if the Springboks gathered two wins to start the Tri-Nations.
You suspect not. His comments are filled with the obsessive importance of the World Cup, South Africa has been buoyed by their Super 14 triumph and they will make allowances now, if White can manouevre his side to the big prize in France.
This untidy season should get a fillip though tonight in Melbourne. This is a genuine heavyweight test, perhaps a preview of a semifinal in Paris in October.
Binoculars are a prerequisite to watch the game live because of the vast arena usually filled by AFL stars or cricketers but the atmosphere is special, it is a sporting shrine, and if the contest matches Brisbane last year, spectators will briefly be able to forget rugby's afflictions.
