Wallaby Dan Vickerman goes about his business

CAPE TOWN - It's hard to stay under the radar when you're a 204cm rugby lock.

Harder still, when you're returning to the country of your birth and upbringing to play against its national team.

This is the predicament Dan Vickerman has found himself in every year since switching allegiances from South Africa to Australia and becoming a Wallaby in 2002.

While not exactly a wallflower, Vickerman has somehow managed to limit the attention and derisive calls of his former countrymen.

There was no sledging or bottle throwing at Vickerman when he was announced and ran on as a replacement for Mark Chisholm early in the second half of last Saturday's test loss to the Springboks at Ellis Park.

Clyde Rathbone, another former South African junior star turned Wallaby, hasn't exactly engendered the same level of indifference.

To the contrary, Rathbone -- who failed to make this tour through injury, seems to receive a verbal battering off the field and a physical one on it each time he returns to South Africa.

His comments about the problems with South Africa and its rugby, haven't won him many friends here.

Vickerman, who on Sunday (NZT) plays in the Wallabies' starting lineup for the first time this season after a shoulder injury sustained in the Super 12 final, modestly suggests Rathbone is probably a bigger target.

"Clyde was probably a massive loss for them -- I don't think I really accomplished too much when I was here," Vickerman said.

"I sort of played in the junior ranks -- maybe he's just a better player and they are a bit more dirty that they lost him than me."

Perhaps Vickerman was simply more of a slow burn.

He featured for the South African under-21 team but after playing in Brisbane in the late 1990s while studying, he decided to come back again and settle in Australia.

"I always respect where I've come from and I certainly loved playing rugby while I was here but in saying that I had a new opportunity and a change in my life and Australia has been really good to me," he said.

"I didn't leave South Africa for any other reasons then to have an opportunity in Australia."

An opportunity he has taken with both hands.

A key forward for the Brumbies from 2001 to 2003, Vickerman joined the Waratahs in 2004.

His combination with fellow lock Justin Harrison was outstanding this season, and the Super 12 finalist Waratahs were the best lineout team in the competition.

Wallabies coach Eddie Jones rated him as the best player in the Super 12.

Vickerman seemed almost embarrassed by the praise, deferring to his NSW teammates.

Yet when it comes to be counted for his mistakes he's happy to put his hand up ahead of this weekend's Tri-Nations opener.

"Obviously a few things didn't quite go the way I wanted to," he said of last Saturday's test where the Springboks pinched four lineout throws shortly after he came on the field.

"I came on and messed up the first lineout which led to a try for them. I was responsible so I feel a bit disappointed because of that.

"I think there's a hell of a lot I'm going to have to improve on for next weekend but I'm looking forward to it."

While some of his teammates have engaged in more questionable activities such as nightclubbing until the small hours two days out from a test match, Vickerman has kept it simple while back in South Africa.

With the Australian team based in Cape Town -- the city of his upbringing -- he's been able to catch up with friends, family and even former teachers.

He's clearly comfortable when he returns here, and as the Wallabies may yet discover -- when you can relax in a seemingly hostile environment, half the battle is already won.

- AAP