Wily Orie unfazed by Wallabies' host of giants: 'You don't fall over for one guy'

At 1.98m and 113kg, Marvin Orie suddenly seems like a baby among the big boys the Wallabies are planning to unleash against the Springboks in the two fierce rivals' Rugby Championship opener at Loftus on Saturday, but he's not about to give an inch.

Wily Eddie Jones, the Aussies' mentor, has laid down a marker by including the imposing France-based duo of Will Skelton and Richie Arnold - absolute man-mountains at 2.03m, 145kg and 2.08m, 127kg, respectively - in his squad for their African visit, evidently telling the broader rugby fraternity that his team doesn't have a soft underbelly in terms of the power of his pack.

Not that the Boks won't have a counter, despite sending their first-choice second row of Lood de Jager and Eben Etzebeth to New Zealand, as they will have their own behemoth in former Irish international Jean Kleyn (2.03m, 121kg) making his debut.

Along with a line-out technician in Orie, who gets through a mountain of work on defence anyway, the hosts should be fine.

"Are we going to fall over because of one guy? Not a chance. You don't stand back and you don't just plan for a specific player," Orie said with a grin. 

"One needs to be familiar with the position you play in, as well as your competitors. We don't know if a guy like Will will even be selected, nor how the Aussies plan to do things on the day, but you need to cover all the bases.

"Of course we've done our analysis on players like Will and Richie to put plans in place."

Indeed, Springbok forwards coach Deon Davids pointed out that it's a fallacy to believe the Wallaby forwards might find it challenging to front up to South Africa's vaunted and varied pack.

After all, props James Slipper, Allan Alaatoa and Taniela Tupou are wily and solid