Springbok coach Peter de Villiers gave an indication of what the team for the opening Test of the year might look like, when he put the players through their paces in Cape Town on Thursday.

After 21 Springboks were ruled out of the away leg of the Tri-Nations, due to 'injury', it was anyone's guess as to what combinations the Bok coach would favour to do battle in the first leg of the tournament .

The Boks face Australia in Sydney on July 23 and New Zealand in Wellington a week later.

And at Thursday's training run he gave the public a glimpse of what to expect in the encounter with the Wallabies.

The team that trained together at Florida Park included a number of interesting selections and will surely fuel speculation about the Springboks' chances in Australasia this year.

The front row saw skipper John Smit, at hooker, flanked by two Bulls props Dean Greyling and Werner Kruger.

However, without any other specialist tightheads in sight it appears that Smit is set to provide cover for Kruger  in the No.3 jersey if required.

De Villiers has been outspoken about his belief that Smit should be playing at hooker, but unless BJ Botha makes a rapid recovery from his knee injury it appears that the Bok captain may be forced to play in a position that he has not featured in at all this year.

Ulster players Johann Muller and Ruan Pienaar look set to get a chance to prove their worth as Muller linked up with Flip van der Merwe at lock and Pienaar ran at scrumhalf. Alistair Hargreaves is the only other lock in the group and appears set to warm the bench.

De Villiers also showed that some players may be playing in positions that they do not feature in regularly for their Super Rugby franchises.

Ashley Johnson has mainly played at flank for the Cheetahs this season, but he was at No.8.

Gio Aplon ran in his preferred position of fullback, despite being picked at right wing by Stormers coach Allister Coetzee in last week's semifinal loss to the Crusaders.

The halfback pairing of Pienaar and Morne Steyn have plenty of experience between them, but the same cannot be said of the rest of the backline.

Lwazi Mvovo and Juan de Jongh may have battled to nail down starting places at their respective franchises this season, but they helped make up an explosive-looking set of outside backs alongside Aplon and Bulls flyer Bjorn Basson.

Between the training sessions on Wednesday and Thursday six different loose forwards in the group have got an opportunity, and De Villiers' certainly does have more options at the back of the scrum than he does in the front row.

Considering that the Bok coach is missing almost a full match-day squad due to 'injury' there is still plenty of talent available, however there is definitely far more depth in positions such as flyhalf where there are four possible options.

The lack of tight forward resources will be a particular worry but if any of the fringe players are to make a big statement ahead of the World Cup, this appears to be their golden opportunity.

Possible Springbok team: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Lwazi Mvovo, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Wynand Olivier, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Morne Steyn, 9 Ruan Pienaar, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Danie Rossouw, 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 Johann Muller, 4 Flip van der Merwe, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 John Smit, 1 Dean Greyling.
Replacements: 16 Chiliboy Ralepelle 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Ashley Johnson, 20 Charl McLeod, 21 Patrick Lambie, 22 Odwa Ndungane.