Six Nations wooden spoon holders Italy say they will challenge world champions South Africa in at least one area, the scrums, during the first Test in Witbank on Saturday.

Italy's South African coach Nick Mallett, who has also coached the Springboks, said the tourists would try to achieve dominance in the scrums, an occasional problem area for the home team.

"We have a very good front row," said Mallett.

"It would be stupid not to utilise our strength."

The Springboks will be missing captain and hooker John Smit from their front row through injury, and replacement Chiliboy Ralepelle will be making only his second Test start.

There will also be pressure on loosehead prop Gurthro Steenkamp against Martin Castrogiovanni, widely acknowledged as one of the world's strongest scrummagers.

Steenkamp was outscrummed by Castrogiovanni when the Springboks suffered an embarrassing loss against English club Leicester last year, but was a star in an impressive 42-17 win against Six Nations champions France in Cape Town last weekend.

Jannie du Plessis has been drafted in at tighthead after an unconvincing performance by BJ Botha against France.

While Italy might be competitive in the scrums, they are likely to be outgunned in almost every other area against a Boks side in dominant form as they build towards the 2011 rugby world cup in New Zealand.

"They are the best team in the world," acknowledged Mallett.

Although Springbok coach Peter de Villiers has made 11 changes from the 22-man squad that faced France, the South Africans still have a host of potential match-winners.

If there are doubts about the Springbok front row, the second row sees the resumption of the world-class lock partnership between stand-in captain Victor Matfield and Bakkies Botha, back after suspension.

The Boks suffered a blow, however, when star flanker Schalk Burger withdrew because of an ankle injury.

This means outstanding eighthman Pierre Spies will have two relative newcomers in Dewald Potgieter and Francois Louw backing him up in the loose trio.

But the backs are studded with quality, from former world player of the year, winger Bryan Habana, to points machine fly-half Morne Steyn.

South Africa rested centre pair Jaque Fourie and Wynand Olivier, but replacements Jean de Villiers and Butch James have plenty of experience and will be keen to show their credentials for World Cup selection after stints in Europe.

The biggest challenge for the Boks will be to break down a stubborn Italian defence. Although they lost four of five Six Nations matches last year, beating only Scotland, Italy conceded just 137 points.

A boost for the Italians is the return of captain and number eight Sergio Parisse, who missed the entire Six Nations campaign because of injury.

But this was offset by a finger injury that forced experienced flanker Mauro Bergamasco out of the tour.

With South Africa staging the FIFA World Cup, the Tests against Italy are being played at lesser rugby union venues Witbank and East London.

Witbank, a coal mining town east of Pretoria, will be hosting its first rugby international.

One player who will be returning to his roots is South Africa-born Italian lock Quintin Geldenhuys, a former player for the Witbank-based Mpumalanga Pumas.

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