Rugby-Wallabies look to stop the rot against Boks in Brisbane

By Nick Mulvenney SYDNEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - A beleaguered Australia side will be desperate for a season-transforming victory over South Africa on Saturday similar to the one they snatched at the death in last year's Rugby Championship clash against the Springboks. Twelve months ago at the same Lang Park in Brisbane, Tevita Kuridrani's last gasp try gave Australia a victory they barely deserved and set the Wallabies on a run of nine wins from 10 matches that took them to the World Cup final. They have not tasted victory since, however, racking up six successive losses from the Twickenham final defeat through the 3-0 June series reverse at the hands of England to two more losses to the All Blacks at the start of the Rugby Championship. Another defeat on Saturday would match their worst run in the professional era, the seven matches without a win that led to the departure of Eddie Jones in 2005. South Africa are also in need of a morale boost in Brisbane, however, as they arrived in Queensland on the back of only a second ever test loss to Argentina in their last championship outing in Salta. While Springboks coach Allister Coetzee has overhauled his backline and packed his bench with extra muscle in anticipation of a fierce set-piece battle, Australia have largely kept faith with a side that was hammered 29-9 in Wellington two weeks ago. Wallabies coach Michael Cheika has resisted the calls of a host of media pundits and former players to bring an end to the back row combination of David Pocock and Michael Hooper which produced such dividends last year. Instead, Cheika has decided to ditch blindside flanker Scott Fardy and bring lineout jumper Dean Mumm into the back row to bolster a set piece that faltered badly against the All Blacks. His other gamble, the Quade Cooper-Bernard Foley axis at flyhalf and inside centre, also remains intact and the playmakers will be hoping for an awful lot more ball to play with than they had in Wellington. Foley will go head-to-head with Juan de Jongh, who Coetzee has brought into the Springboks centres along with Jesse Kriel to replace Damian de Allende and Lionel Mapoe. De Jongh and Francois Hougaard, who comes in on the left wing for the injured Ruan Combrinck, both won sevens bronze medals in Rio de Janeiro last month but Coetzee is banking more on an Olympian effort from his forwards to secure the victory. "It's going to be a massive scrumming contest. Set piece will be crucial," he told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday. "You've got to come up with a special performance in Australia if you want to beat the Wallabies." Match factbox: (Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Ian Ransom)