Wallaby Matt Dunning's selection at tighthead prop for Saturday's Tri-Nations clash against South Africa will see a front up with one of the Boks' rising stars — the irrepressible "Beast" Mtawarira.

Dunning seemed somewhat surprised by his starting XV selection on Thursday for this weekend's Test in Durban, as he venerated front row compatriot Al Baxter's performances in recent outings for Australia.

"Yeah I was definitely surprised [being selected at number three]," Dunning said at a media conference on Thursday.

"I thought Al [Baxter] has been scrummaging and playing exceptionally well. Come scrum time, he's met the challenge of whoever he's faced.

"I think he's also done more than that in a lot of the games — aerobically round the paddock he's been a fantastic athlete.

"So I was surprised at a run, but Robbie [Deans] has asked me to get out there and be combative and scrum well, so I've just gotta get out there and perform," Dunning added.

With the prospect of thus squaring off against the 'Beast' at loosehead - one of the few players that really stood out for the Springboks during last Saturday's All Black whitewash at Newlands - Dunning spoke highly of the Zimbabwean.

"He [The 'Beast'] is an excellent scrummager and an excellent player, so we'll have to scrummage very well to combat that.

"He's also super fast, I know that much. I hopefully won't have to match up to him on the wing!" the 29-year-old quirked.

Dunning did feel that on the whole the Bok scrum had improved in recent weeks, and was certainly a strong point against the All Blacks last weekend.

"The New Zealand scrum is rated one of the best in the world, and the Bok scrum was exceptional [last weekend]," said Dunning.

"They definitely seem to have improved their technique since we played them last. The Beast and CJ [van der Linde] look exceptional."

Some South Africans may beg to differ however over the competitive quality of Australia's front row forwards over the years.

A former loosehead prop now having had to suit a different mould, Dunning admitted that his Wallaby side have put in the hours and made the necessary changes to become a more formidable scrumming unit.

"Some of that [criticism about the Wallaby scrum] is probably well justified," he said.

"So we're just working hard at the moment and over the last two years or so to rectify that. I think in this Tri-Nations for the most part, our scrums have been going fairly well and have been fairly solid.

"Now I've got a chance to hopefully add to that. Michael Foley thought that I had the make-up of a good tighthead, and it's something I'm enjoying.

"It's a new challenge though, I think it's definitely a lot harder come scrum time," Dunning added.

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