Wynne Gray: All stops out for Soweto showdown

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The Springboks against the All Blacks in Soweto. The nerves churn and the blood rises just imagining the atmosphere next Sunday if more than 94,000 cram into the National Stadium to watch the old rivals.

One of our satellite sports is baiting South Africans, but one thing we should never do is chip them about the way they support their national teams. They do atmosphere as well as any rugby nation round the globe.

Next week that may rise to a new level as the Springboks arrive for the first of their three Tri-Nations tests at home with revered captain John Smit set for his 100th Springbok cap.

The din will be outrageous, the ambience something else for those in or around the stadium. Should Nelson Mandela turn up, the cacophony will go off the scale.

The first year Graham Henry coached the All Blacks in 2004, he was staggered by the commotion as crowds bashed on the sides of the team bus as it slowly negotiated the last kilometre to Ellis Park.

Mandela's public appearances have been limited lately by failing health. But those who saw Robben Island prisoner 46664 turn up at the 1995 World Cup final in Johannesburg will never forget it.

If Mandela is absent next week, there will be similar reverence for Smit, whose gifts in behaviour and leadership have been a massive boost for the Springboks. The man known as Barney Rubble never seems to lose his cool and has an air of diplomatic serenity that may be even too placid for work with the UN.

Without him, the Boks would not have been as formidable. Smit is a strong leader but his dwindling contributions and the absence of halfback Fourie du Preez have cut some deep notches in the Springboks' clout.

However, the combination of Soweto, Smit's milestone test and massive crowd support will be powerful weapons for the Springboks.

Rowdy Afrikaners fuel themselves on evil concoctions like brandy and coke and I can still picture locals tipping off the back of a rickety grandstand in Bloemfontein one year under the influence of alcohol they had injected into naartjies.

There is an edge to the crowd, an energy and fervour we rarely see in this country. Some of it may be a touch raw but their support makes rugby grounds here appear packed with laryngitis-afflicted dummies.