Scott Higginbotham has vowed to stick it to the Springboks on Saturday after winning his long-awaited maiden Test start for the Wallabies.

Higginbotham was on Thursday rewarded for a series of strong cameos off the bench with an overdue promotion for the Tri Nations showdown in Durban.

The dynamic Queensland Reds back-rower will line up at No.8, relegating Ben McCalman to the bench, and says he can't wait to take it to the monster Springboks pack.

"It's a lot of fun when you come up against a big team and a big group of guys that really want to put it on you and that just gives you a bit more motivation to put it on them. It's great," Higginbotham said.

"That means be as physical as they are and take it to them and do the usual."

Higginbotham's bullish approach is precisely the type of "enthusiasm and industriousness" that coach Robbie Deans is looking for from his forwards at the Kings Park cauldron.

The 24-year-old's starting opportunity comes a year after he endured the heartache of being scratched from his scheduled debut against the Springboks in Bloemfontein because of back spasms in the warm-up.

"It was a tough thing to go through," Higginbotham said.

"Your whole goal in your footy life is to play for the Wallabies and when that opportunity presents itself and is taken away, it's obviously hard to deal with.

"Lucky for me, Robbie gave me a chance to play at the end of last year against France and I took that and enjoyed that and he's kept giving me the opportunity this year.

"I've obviously enjoyed my time off the bench, but you don't want to be a bench player. You want to be a starting player and I'm going to make the most of my opportunity this weekend and try and hold that spot."

The 110kg powerhouse is clearly undaunted by the prospect of taking on a Boks outfit set to feature 11 members of South Africa's 2007 World Cup-winning side.

"Playing Super Rugby, you sort of come up against these challenges every week. You tend to play the same guys each week," Higginbotham said.

"It obviously gets a bit tougher when you put those key three back-rowers from the whole country in the one team, but we've got the will to do it and I think we're more than equipped for the challenge."

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