Figuratively and literally the lead-up has been a sideshow - now, finally, for the main event.

A dissection of form, tactics and any kind of nuance has largely been missing in the lead-up to Australia's rugby Test against South Africa on Saturday as opposing coaches Eddie Jones and Jake White have spent most of the week in engaged in a mock feud.

It has been fun yet a little hollow as South African mentor White questioned the credentials of the opposition pack and second-guessed Wallaby selection, while Australian prop Bill Young retorted by calling their forwards dinosaurs.

And Jones has been happy to join in the slanging match with some quips of his own, culminating in his "Sideshow Bob" jibe about White on Thursday.

All this has taken away from what promises to be an intriguing fixture that at its very simplest boils down to the might of the Springbok pack versus the skill of the Wallaby backs.

White revelled in naming a pack this week thought to be one of the biggest ever used in Test rugby.

At 919kg it weighs in some 36kg heavier than the Wallaby eight.

South African hooker and captain John Smit did not shy away from the reliance the Springboks have placed on their tight five over the years - in fact, on Friday he talked it up.

"It's one of the basic principles of the game - always has been," he said.

"I think the old cliche of games being won and lost in the tight five is something you see over and over because it is still that simple a game."

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