Australia will pose a greater lineout threat than the All Blacks when they face world champions South Africa in the Tri-Nations on Saturday, Springbok lock Victor Matfield said.

"It will definitely be a bigger challenge. The Wallaby lineout did very well competing against the All Blacks in Auckland last month. (Lock) Nathan Sharpe is very experienced and has been running their lineout for quite some time, so it will be a tough challenge," Matfield, the Springboks' lineout kingpin, told a news conference on Thursday.

Matfield said the Australians, who lost their opening Tri-Nations match to New Zealand last month, also have the pack to front up to the Springboks in the forward exchanges.

"There are a lot of perceptions out there and some teams always have their forwards blamed when they lose. But if you look back to the Super 14, then the (New South Wales) Waratahs had the best scrum and one of the most physical packs," Matfield said.

Springbok assistant coach Percy Montgomery said South Africa, who have beaten New Zealand twice in succession in this tournament, were fortunate to still be able to call on players like Matfield and 14 others from their World Cup-winning squad of 2007.

"The core is still there from the World Cup so it's a settled team. We've tweaked a few things and they're a more mature side now.

"The forwards are giving us a great platform and from that go-forward ball we've been able to create quite a few tries out of nothing. The back three are all able to counter-attack and it's good that we've been able to get the ball wide to them."

REUTERS