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Wallabies unchanged for historic Sydney Test

The Wallabies will take an unchanged starting line-up into Saturday night's second Test with the Springboks at Sydney's Allianz Stadium.

Having come through the 25-17 victory over South Africa in Adelaide injury free, Wallabies coach Dave Rennie has the luxury of retaining a winning run-on side. The only change comes among the replacements, where Jake Gordon comes in for Tate McDermott as Nic White's back-up at scrum-half.

"It's great to be able to have some consistency in selection with the team that played last week earning the right to wear the jersey again in Sydney," Rennie said.

"While rapt with last week's effort, we're well aware of the challenge a wounded Springbok poses and the intensity we will require again on Saturday night.

"We're excited by the opportunity to play in front of a sold out crowd in the first international event at the new Allianz Stadium."

It is a far cry from the situation in the visitors' camp, with Springboks coach Jaqcues Nienaber forced into several key changes in the backline among eight new faces from the team that started in Adelaide.

Fly-half Handre Pollard, in-form centre Lukhanyo Am star back-rower Pieter-Steph du Toit have all been ruled out with knee injuries, while Nienaber has looked for greater impact from the opening whistle with the promotion of Malcolm Marx and Jasper Wiese at hooker and No. 8 respectively.

But it is smooth sailing for the Wallabies, who returned to their Gold Coast base on Sunday and will make the trip down to Sydney on Thursday afternoon.

Rennie's men are hunting back-to-back wins for the first time in 2022, and will be looking for a similar start to the one that saw Fraser McReight score after just 62 seconds in Adelaide.

South Africa, meanwhile, are still searching for a first win on Australian soil since 2013.

Asked about why the Wallabies had built such an impressive record on home soil against the South Africans, Australia assistant coach Scott Wisemantel said it was important to look at his team's most immediate previous encounters before facing the Springboks.

"Probably because we've come off bad losses, last year in Perth [against the All Blacks] we had our pants pulled down," Wisemantel said. "Argentina [a few weeks ago], too, same deal.

"So the timing, I s'pose if you're a Boks supporter, isn't great, but I don't think it's a reflection on the Boks at all."

Pushed on whether there was something in the match-up that favoured Australia, Wisemantel added: "There's intricacies, but I'm not about to talk about those ... you guys are the experts, you go and work it out."

But Wisemantel, who runs the Wallabies' attack, was more forthcoming on why Australia was starting to enjoy some success with ball in hand. While the clinical edge has at times been missing, the Wallabies last week scored three superb tries, each in different fashion, with glimpses of sparkling skill from both backs and forwards.

"I think it's indicative of the whole system within Australia at the moment," Wisemantel said. "The states have worked really hard on the skill levels as well as the fitness levels of players.

"So whilst we have worked really hard on it, I don't think we can take all the credit, I think you actually have to go back to the states and the Super Rugby team and commend them on their programs and the way that we've integrated together.

Saturday night's Test in Sydney will be an historic first international event at the rebuilt Allianz Stadium, with the old venue having hosted its last Test in 2017.

The Wallabies will confirm their bench later on Thursday.