Springboks coach Peter de Villiers makes no apologies for caring little that Jean de Villiers will become South Africa's most-capped centre of all-time in Saturday's Tri Nations match at Newlands.

In his 51st Test appearance, de Villiers will slot into the centres for the 40th time when he lines up against the Wallabies, surpassing De Wet Barry's 39 starts for the Boks in the position.

But de Villiers' namesake coach is not big on personal milestones.

"Let me tell you something about this team: records come and records go, but the team dynamics to us mean so much more," he said.

"We want to be successful as a team and focusing on that. Individual records will come by themselves.

"So the 'i' in this team has really been thrown out the window. It's a whole team effort in every aspect of the game so, if that's the case, well done to him."

Coach de Villiers is far more concerned about the business of beating the Wallabies, which he says is anything but a fait accompli.

Despite this week branding the Australians scrum cheats, de Villiers is expecting a more controlled and structured performance from the Wallabies than the Springboks faced in their past two Tests against the All Blacks.

"There will be a lot of differences," he said.

"One of those is that they will keep the ball much longer, they will be very patient at putting together some phases and see there are some holes for them to probe.

"At scrum time, they pose a different challenge. At lineout time, a different challenge, breakdowns ... so, yeah, it's a different team but there is only a small difference between the three teams. On a day, anyone can win a game.

"If we are at our best and they are at their best, it will be a great Test."

Although Australia haven't won at Newlands since 1992, there hasn't been more than four points separating the two sides in the past three Cape Town Tests over the past decade.

The Springboks required two late drop goals from Francois Steyn to squeeze out a thrilling 22-19 victory in the last meeting at the ground two years ago and de Villiers is again expecting this match to go down to the wire.

"The bounce of the ball or one turnover try can change the whole complexion of the game," he said.

"So we preparing for those kind of things too. You don't have control over those kind of things."

He insists the Springboks' record-breaking 53-8 win over the Wallabies last year in Johannesburg will be irrelevant come kick-off at 5pm on Saturday (1am Sunday AEST).

"It won't take them that long to heal," de Villiers said, an assertion confirmed by Wallabies captain Stirling Mortlock on Wednesday.

"This game starts at nought. There is no game in the past that affects this game on Saturday. Every game is nought-nought and you take it from there," de Villiers added.

"We approach this game knowing it will be very hard to be successful, as I believe the Aussies will do, so I just hope it's a spectacular game for everybody who attends it."

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