Wallabies skipper Allan Alaalatoa couldn't help but grin when asked about the challenge facing Isaac Kailea this Saturday.
Just three Tests into his career, Kailea has been charged with neutralising dual World Cup-winning tight head Frans Malherbe and his merry band of scrum doctors in Saturday's Rugby Championship opener.
Tickets for the Wallabies 2024 home Test season are available here.
It's an imposing task, especially when you consider Kailea's barely stamped his front row passport.
The Harlequins junior only made the switch from backrow to prop in 2018 - just one year before Malherbe, Bongi Mbonambi and Vincent Koch won their first World Cup - but Alaalatoa is confident his young teammate is up to the task.
"There's no better challenge as a front rower and the boys have got around him," Alaalatoa told reporters during Friday's captain's run.
"He's been massive for us throughout the July series. For someone who made his debut just then, his physicality around the field and the way he's delivered at set piece has been awesome.
"He's looking forward to that challenge tomorrow."
Kailea's bruising defence during the July Series may have hogged the limelight but his scrummaging didn't go unnoticed.
The 24-year-old didn't concede any penalties at set piece against Wales and Georgia and even without Taniela Tupou (family reasons), Australia's scrum contingent of Kailea, Alaalatoa, James Slipper, Matt Faessler, Josh Nasser and Zane Nonggorr has earned a healthy respect from the South Africans.
"We can see that they actually want to scrum, they want to stay in the contest,” Nche told reporters this week.
“They will do anything to dominate and go forward, so it will be a big challenge for us particularly because we are not in Super Rugby any more and this will be the first time since last year that we get to scrum against them.
“It’s going to be a good challenge but, from what we’ve seen, they can be very unpredictable as you don’t know what they are going to bring on the day, and we just have to be prepared for anything.”
Alaalatoa's own tighthead battle with Nche will be worth the price of admission while there'll be plenty of eyes on Nonggorr as he fills Tupou's sizeable shoes from the pine.
"We all know (Nche)'s probably one of the strongest looseheads going around at the moment,' Alaalatoa said.
"He's someone who's been good for them, they really lean on him for his set piece as they do Marx and Marlherbe as well. They're all threats … and it's something we're ready to face.
"Zane's been huge for us in the past, he's played the game against South Africa (last year) in a tough arena and he's got experience against great quality teams.
"Nela's still here with us, he's contributed massively throughout the whole week and it's testament to him as a person and how much he loves this team."
The Wallabies kick off against South Africa in Brisbane at 2:30pm AEST.
